Several existing shareholders including Woodford have returned to back a $17m funding round for Metalysis, which produces metal powders for 3D printing.

Metalysis, a UK-based metal powder producer exploiting research from University of Cambridge, raised £12m ($17m) in funding yesterday from a consortium including Woodford Investment Management.

Interogo Treasury, the asset management arm of furniture retail chain Inter Ikea’s parent company Interogo Foundation, also took part in the round, as did Draper Esprit, ETF Partners and Hercules Capital.

Founded in 2001, Metalysis has developed a solid-state process to produce powders of metals and commercially known as well as new alloys.

The company’s products include titanium, graphene and rare earth metals such as scandium and niobium, used in additive manufacturing across industries such as aerospace, automotive, magnets, nanotechnology and battery technologies.

Metalysis is exploiting research led by Derek Fray, then professor of materials chemistry in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at University of Cambridge, in 1997.

The cash will also support the launch of Gen4, the company’s industrial scale production facility that will be able to produce hundreds of tonnes of specialty powder alloys. It will also go towards post-processing facilities and feedstock.

The company already opened a Materials Discovery Centre in March 2017 that houses materials development and technology projects undertaken with partners and clients.

Metalysis previously attracted $29m from investors including Woodford and mining company Iluka Resources in 2016, after Iluka had already supplied $20m in 2014.

ETF led a $25.6m funding round in 2007 that also featured 3i, QinetiQ, Seven Spires, Chord Capital and Cambridge Capital Group. In 2009, ETF, 3i, Chord Capital and Seven Spires returned to inject $7m alongside Cody Gate Ventures.

Metalysis’ shareholders also include mining group BHP Billiton, which entered into a strategic intellectual property and asset acquisition agreement with the company in 2007. The two also signed a joint venture agreement at the time.

Interogo Treasury participated in the latest round as an existing backer, though details about its earlier involvement have not been disclosed.