German startup Headmade Materials, creator of a low-cost 3D printing process for metal parts, has raised €1.9 million from the Industrial Technologies Fund of btov Partners. The funds will be used to scale up the startup’s innovative technology, as well as for marketing and customer development.
Although the 3D printing of metal parts is a fast-growing market, the current processes are limited by high-costs and low output. Headmade Materials, founded in 2019 as a spin-off from the Würzburg-based polymer research institute SKZ, has created a new technology called Cold Metal Fusion to solve this problem. Via this technology, customers can 3D print metal parts at a low cost, as well as being supported in the design, part manufacturing and process integration. The startup aims to 3D print series with up to 100,000 parts per year.
“We have been working on the technology for five years and the partnership with btov now gives us the opportunity to accelerate the company’s development and realize our vision of 3D series production,” says Christian Staudigel, Managing Director of Headmade Materials.
“We see the Cold Metal Fusion technology as a very viable approach for serial production due to the high cost efficiency of the process. The combination of mechanical part properties known from metal powder injection molding (MIM) process and considerable process advantages, such as reduced safety requirements due to easier powder handling and higher green part stability, is also significant here,” says Robert Gallenberger, partner of the btov Industrial Technologies Fund.
