Stratasys and MakerBot have signed an agreement whereby privately held MakerBot will merge with a subsidiary of Stratasys.
MakerBot, founded in 2009, helped develop the desktop 3D printing market and has built the largest installed base of 3D printers in the category by making 3D printers highly accessible.
The company has sold more than 22,000 3D printers since 2009. In the last nine months, the MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer accounted for 11,000 of those sales.
In Australia, Makerbot products are distributed by Melbourne-based Inition and Kanoona, NSW-based BilbyCNC.
The combination of these two industry leaders is expected to drive faster adoption of 3D printing for multiple applications and industries, as desktop 3D printers are becoming a mainstream tool across many market segments.
Upon completion of the transaction, MakerBot will operate as a separate subsidiary of Stratasys, maintaining its own identity, products and go-to-market strategy.
The merger enhances Stratasys' position in the rapidly growing 3D printer market, by enabling Stratasys to offer affordable desktop 3D printers together with a seamless user experience.
The MakerBot 3D Ecosystem drives the accessibility and rapid adoption of their desktop 3D printers. It includes Thingiverse.com, the largest collection of downloadable digital designs for making physical objects, and which is empowered by a growing community of makers and creators.
The MakerBot 3D Ecosystem also includes MakerWare software, MakerCare service, MakerBot Filament, the MakerBot Retail Store, the MakerBot 3D Photo Booth, and strategic partnerships with Autodesk, Adafruit, Nokia, OUYA, MoMA and Amazon.
MakerBot recently announced it will further extend its 3D Ecosystem with the MakerBot Digitizer desktop 3D scanner.
MakerBot's products are used by prosumers, including engineers, designers, architects, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and individuals, for professional purposes, as well as for personal applications.
Bre Pettis, CEO and co-founder of MakerBot, will continue to lead the company. Pettis is considered a leader in the 3D printing industry, with a mission to drive further adoption of the company's products.
"MakerBot's 3D printers are rapidly being adopted by CAD-trained designers and engineers," said David Reis, Stratasys CEO.
"The last couple of years have been incredibly inspiring and exciting for us," noted Pettis. "We have an aggressive model for growth, and partnering with Stratasys will allow us to supercharge our mission to empower individuals to make things using a MakerBot, and allow us to bring 3D technology to more people. I am excited about the opportunities this combination will bring to our current and future customers."
Stratasys intends for MakerBot to operate as a separate subsidiary, preserving its existing brand, management, as well as the spirit of collaboration it has built with its users and partners
Together with Stratasys, MakerBot will continue to expand its product offering, provide attentive service to its users and make more 3D printing content available through Thingiverse.com.
Post merger, the opportunities could include accelerating MakerBot's reach by leveraging Stratasys' global infrastructure; cross-promotion of products into the installed base of the combined companies; and leveraging Stratasys' know-how in Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) to benefit MakerBot's product line.
Thingiverse.com has more than 90,000 3D product files available for sharing, and generates more than 500,000 unique visitors and 1,000,000 downloads each month. The accessibility and ease-of-use of this 3D printing content helps promote system usage.