The founders of 3Dponics have since evolved their business from only 3D printed hydroponic systems to include 3D modeling more generally and a 3D printing price shopping tool called 3Dprintler. As the company has been building up 3Dprintler since its launch at CES this year, the search engine has just received a big boost through a nearly seven-figure investment from an angel investor.
3Dprintler is not unlike the Kayak of 3D printing, in that users can upload a file and compare prices between a variety of 3D printing services, like Sculpteo and Shapeways, among others. Their recent blog post is candid about the issues it has been facing while it has tried to get off the ground. They write, “3Dprintler has had to make sacrifices everywhere to stay afloat just to continue paving the way for 3D printing industry. In the end we’ve made it to this point through grit, hard work, less sleep than we’d like, lots of ramen, and even moving our office into one of our 3 bedroom apartment’s just to save a few dollars in our finances. Our achievements so far are thanks to our determination, but we’d love it if the Canadian government could help facilitate business opportunities – or just get innovators in the same room to meet and explore synergies. So far this has been work we’ve had to do on our own.”
After chastising the Canadian government for lack of support for their venture, the company says that private investment will help them continue working towards their dream. Funding the development of the project, the near-seven-figure investment will allow them to push out new features, such as a 3Dprintler button. This will allow online shoppers to click the button and instantly compare prices.
I can definitely empathize with the need for investments and the desire to work towards one’s passions. For their sake, I hope that this funding goes a long way towards a sustainable business model and a robust “Kayak for 3D printing”.
