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MakerBot
MakerBot Industries, LLC was an American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to build on the early progress of the RepRap Project. It was acquired by Stratasys in June 2013. As of April 2016[update], MakerBot had sold over 100,000 desktop 3D printers worldwide. Between 2009 and 2019, the company released 7 generations of 3D printers, ending with the METHOD and METHOD X. It was at one point the leader of the desktop market with an important presence in the media, but its market share declined over the late 2010s. MakerBot also founded and operated Thingiverse, the largest online 3D printing community and file repository. In August 2022, the company completed a merger with its long-time competitor Ultimaker. The combined company is known as UltiMaker, but retains the MakerBot name for its Sketch line of education-focused 3D printers.
Smith was one of the founding members of the RepRap Research Foundation, a non-profit group created to help advance early research in the area of open-source 3D printers. Bre Pettis got inspired during an art residency in Vienna with Johannes Grenzfurthner/monochrom in 2007, when he wanted to create a robot that could print shot glasses for the event Roboexotica and did research about the RepRap project at the Vienna hackerspace Metalab. Shot glasses remained a theme throughout the history of MakerBot.
The company started shipping kits in April 2009 and had sold approximately 3,500 units as of March 2011[update]. Demand for the kits was so great in 2009 that the company solicited MakerBot owners to provide parts for future devices from their own MakerBots. Seed funding of $75,000 was provided by Jake Lodwick ($50,000) and Adrian Bowyer and his wife, Christine ($25,000).
In August 2011, venture capital firm The Foundry Group invested $10 million in the company and joined its board.
In April 2012, Zachary Smith was pushed out, involving disagreement on adherence to open-source principles, and likely also about integration with Stratasys. Private security led out 100 employees laid off around the same time.
On June 19, 2013, Stratasys Incorporated announced that it had acquired MakerBot in a stock deal worth $604 million, with $403 million in stock paid up front, based on the current share value of Stratasys. The deal provided that MakerBot would operate as a distinct brand and subsidiary of Stratasys, serving the consumer and desktop market segments. When acquired, Makerbot had sold 22,000 printers. Bre Pettis moved to a position at Stratasys and was replaced as CEO by Jennifer Lawton, who in 2015 was succeeded by Jonathan Jaglom, then in January 2017, Nadav Goshen.
In April 2015, it was reported that in an effort to integrate MakerBot's activities better with those of Stratasys, Jaglom laid off around 100 of 500 employees and closed the existing three MakerBot retail locations. Then, 80 other employees were laid off in October 2015.
In February 2017, MakerBot's newly minted CEO Nadav Goshen laid off more than 30% of the workforce and changed the position of the company from consumer focused to two verticals based; professional and the education sector. This lay off was coined the "Valentine's Day Massacre" as it happened the day after. Overnight MakerBot went from 400 employees to under 200 worldwide.
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MakerBot
MakerBot Industries, LLC was an American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to build on the early progress of the RepRap Project. It was acquired by Stratasys in June 2013. As of April 2016[update], MakerBot had sold over 100,000 desktop 3D printers worldwide. Between 2009 and 2019, the company released 7 generations of 3D printers, ending with the METHOD and METHOD X. It was at one point the leader of the desktop market with an important presence in the media, but its market share declined over the late 2010s. MakerBot also founded and operated Thingiverse, the largest online 3D printing community and file repository. In August 2022, the company completed a merger with its long-time competitor Ultimaker. The combined company is known as UltiMaker, but retains the MakerBot name for its Sketch line of education-focused 3D printers.
Smith was one of the founding members of the RepRap Research Foundation, a non-profit group created to help advance early research in the area of open-source 3D printers. Bre Pettis got inspired during an art residency in Vienna with Johannes Grenzfurthner/monochrom in 2007, when he wanted to create a robot that could print shot glasses for the event Roboexotica and did research about the RepRap project at the Vienna hackerspace Metalab. Shot glasses remained a theme throughout the history of MakerBot.
The company started shipping kits in April 2009 and had sold approximately 3,500 units as of March 2011[update]. Demand for the kits was so great in 2009 that the company solicited MakerBot owners to provide parts for future devices from their own MakerBots. Seed funding of $75,000 was provided by Jake Lodwick ($50,000) and Adrian Bowyer and his wife, Christine ($25,000).
In August 2011, venture capital firm The Foundry Group invested $10 million in the company and joined its board.
In April 2012, Zachary Smith was pushed out, involving disagreement on adherence to open-source principles, and likely also about integration with Stratasys. Private security led out 100 employees laid off around the same time.
On June 19, 2013, Stratasys Incorporated announced that it had acquired MakerBot in a stock deal worth $604 million, with $403 million in stock paid up front, based on the current share value of Stratasys. The deal provided that MakerBot would operate as a distinct brand and subsidiary of Stratasys, serving the consumer and desktop market segments. When acquired, Makerbot had sold 22,000 printers. Bre Pettis moved to a position at Stratasys and was replaced as CEO by Jennifer Lawton, who in 2015 was succeeded by Jonathan Jaglom, then in January 2017, Nadav Goshen.
In April 2015, it was reported that in an effort to integrate MakerBot's activities better with those of Stratasys, Jaglom laid off around 100 of 500 employees and closed the existing three MakerBot retail locations. Then, 80 other employees were laid off in October 2015.
In February 2017, MakerBot's newly minted CEO Nadav Goshen laid off more than 30% of the workforce and changed the position of the company from consumer focused to two verticals based; professional and the education sector. This lay off was coined the "Valentine's Day Massacre" as it happened the day after. Overnight MakerBot went from 400 employees to under 200 worldwide.