MakerBot Industries
 |
|
| Industry | 3D printing |
|---|---|
| Founded | January 2009 |
| Founders |
Bre Pettis Adam Mayer Zach "Hoeken" Smith |
| Headquarters | New York City (Brooklyn) |
|
Key people
|
Jonathan Jaglom (CEO) |
| Products | Replicator+ Replicator Mini+ Replicator Z18 |
| Parent | Stratasys |
| Website | www |
MakerBot is a New York City based desktop 3D printer manufacturer company founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer and Zach "Hoeken" Smith. MakerBot builds on the early progress of the RepRap Project. It was acquired by Stratasys in June 2013. As of April 2016, MakerBot has sold over 100,000 desktop 3D printers worldwide. Since 2009, the company has released 6 generations of 3D printers, with the latest being the Replicator+ and Replicator Mini+. It was the leader of the desktop market with an important presence in the media but its market share is in decline. MakerBot also founded and operates Thingiverse, the largest online 3D printing community and file repository.
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. 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.
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Wikipedia