At Additive Manufacturing Strategies (AMS) earlier this year, I had the opportunity to interview Phil DeSimone, co-founder of Carbon and currently part of the company’s office of the CEO. One of the things DeSimone emphasized to me was that the disastrous failed M&As that characterized the AM industry all throughout 2023 had a ripple effect for AM’s reputation across the finance world:

“…it looks like a circus over here. It’s not something that they’re too keen on getting more involved in, at the moment. I think we’ve gotta start building that trust back.”

It looks like DeSimone may be confident that the industry has started to build that trust back. Amidst an announcement that the company has raised $60 million in its latest funding round, DeSimone told Axios in an exclusive that Carbon “expects to IPO in 12 to 24 months”.

Another key takeaway from the Axios exclusive is that Carbon is cash-flow breakeven. That is the linchpin behind the latest investment: Carbon plans to use the money to “bridge the gap” until it’s cash-flow positive, securing the company’s financial position as it further scales its production capacity.

It’s also noteworthy that the funding round was headlined by the enterprises that have been in it with Carbon for the long haul, including Carbon user adidas, as well as Sequoia Capital, arguably the most influential VC firm of all time. Carbon has steadily made AM industry news all year, including the announcement that Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar used a Carbon saddle, and a deal between Carbon and a long-time partner, service bureau SyBridge Technologies, to significantly increase the latter’s use of Carbon’s 3D printers.

In a press release about Carbon’s latest funding round that brought in $60 million for the digital light synthesis (DLS) firm, DeSimone said, “It’s an exciting time for Carbon. We have built a remarkable portfolio of products and a network of trusted suppliers, production partners, customers, and collaborators who share our vision. With this latest round of investment, we’re in a good position to expand what’s possible in digital manufacturing and redefine how entire industries bring ideas and products to market.”

Jim Goetz, partner at Sequoia Capital, said, “We believed in Carbon’s mission from the very beginning. Carbon’s print technology, proprietary resins, and design expertise — along with their proven success across multiple industries — position them to lead and collaborate in shaping the next era of digital manufacturing in the United States.”

There are many things for the entire AM industry to feel positive about with this announcement, but above all I think it signals that AM could prove to regain the attention of the investment world on a faster timeline than most observers of the industry probably would’ve expected, following several years of dismal sentiment. Even the simple fact that a publication like Axios cares enough to get an exclusive with Phil DeSimone is cause for optimism.

More deeply, Carbon isn’t “too big to fail” in the traditional sense of the term; the AM industry is still too small for that. However, given the company’s decade-plus of buildup, and its amassing of the better part of a billion dollars over that time, I think that the AM industry — and especially the AM industry in the U.S. — needs Carbon to succeed.

And, it needs that success to be measurable in financial terms, not just in terms of the winning portfolio of applications the company has cultivated. Along those lines, it can’t be emphasized enough, how big a deal it would be for Carbon to be cash-flow positive before an IPO.

We’ve seen all too many models of AM companies going public the wrong way. If one of the most storied brands in the industry’s history can go public the right way, there will be plenty of coattails for newcomers to ride. That would of course bring its own set of problems, but it would also prove to the world that AM can be the basis for a rather normal market.

Images courtesy of Carbon