Desktop Metal to IPO via SPAC

~ Obligatory ”here we go again” SPAC joke ~

K, moving on. This week, 3D printer maker Desktop Metal announced plans to go public by merging with blank check company Trine. Expected to close in Q4, the deal will value the Massachusetts-based, five-year-old company at $2.5 billion.

“Desktop Metal accelerated its going public plans as [an] SPAC path became accessible,” Lux Capital Partner Bilal Zuberi told me. He led Lux’s investment in the company.

Desktop Metal’s bread and butter = building 3D printers and selling them to other businesses, typically those involved in heavy industry. Customers include Ford, BMW, Lockheed Martin, and Georgia-Pacific.

• Last year, the startup brought in $26 million in revenue. It’s projecting a similar sum for 2020, but hopes to surpass $1 billion over five years, per Forbes.
• The company will tap SPAC monies to consolidate the additive manufacturing industry.

Big picture: The3D printing/additive manufacturing industry hasn’t had the take-up that early proponents predicted. But there’s increasing demand among manufacturers, which could be boosted by the U.S.-China decoupling and the pandemic’s disruption of supply chains.

“We need to build resilience into our systems. Instead of shipping metals, minerals, and materials around the world, we can now ship 3D models and print designs,” Zuberi said.