Austin-based startup prints $1.5m

Structured Polymers, a startup founded by several Texas University graduates, has attracted $1.5m in seed funding. The round was led through MicroVentures, an equity crowd funding website, which allowed the company to accumulate $1.2m from 65 investors in less than a week. The remaining $300,000 was raised through angel and institutional investors. 

The company, which was launched in 2012 through the Austin Technology Incubator, will use the funding to develop and sell specialty polymer powders – the “ink” used by commercial 3D printers – which can replicate a range of products such as parts used in aviation, automotive and medical industries. The 3D print industry is considered to be worth $2.6bn, and expected to grow to $6.5bn by 2019. The increase will also be helped by key hardware patents expiring, allowing costs to be reduced by as much as 50%.

Structured Polymers has developed its own, patented manufacturing process, using so-called selective laser sintering, which increases the types of polymers the 3D printers can use. The company is currently made up of five employees, including founder and CEO Vikram Devarajan and Carl Deckard, the inventor of the selective laser sintering process.

In what is a rare step for MicroVentures, the company has also taken a seat on Structured Polymer’s board. The $1.2m round was the largest the platform has experienced to date.

Vikram Devarajan said: “We are at a major turning point in the 3D printing industry due to 20-year-old hardware patents expiring. This presents new opportunities in the commercial 3D printing market in particular, and Structured Polymers is set to capitalise on these changes by offering more specialised materials at lower costs than the limited materials available now.”