EOS Founder Funds Online 3D Printing Platform

As the world of SLS receives a significant boost from the expiration of key patents, founder of EOS Dr. Hans J. Langer has begun investing in companies that may see the German laser sintering firm strengthen its position and grow the SLS world even further.  Earlier this year, Langer put some money into a startup dedicated to dying and finishing SLS prints, to bring a much needed rainbow to nylon printed parts.  Now, he has gone on to contribute funds to Berlin startup 3YOURMIND, an online platform for simplifying the process of sourcing 3D printing service providers.

Through 3YOURMIND’s simple user interface, users are able to compare prices of services Shapeways, Sculpteo, and i.materialise, including their materials portfolios and shipping times.  During the upload process, the site tests the file for printability and even repair the file and optimize it for printing.  3YOURMIND has also developed CAD plugins for direct upload from a variety of CAD programs.

As a spin-off of the Technical University of Berlin, 3YOURMIND now has over 25 employees and two locations, in Berlin and one in Wrocław, Poland.  With 60,000 price and 3D printing inquiries per month, the site has already proven successful enough to receive a seven figure investment from the founder of EOS, with the goal of expanding the firm internationally, saying that the startup “solves a huge problem to bring additive manufacturing to the broad masses.” 3YOURMIND co-founder, Stephan Kühr, commented on the investment, “We are pleased to have Dr. Hans J. Langer, one of the world’s leading experts in the field of industrial 3D printing, on board with us as an investor. This financing round is a great milestone on our way to realizing our vision – with our online-platform we will make it easy for anybody to create and receive perfect 3D prints from only the best 3D printing services.”

Perhaps, with Langer’s funding, 3YOURMIND will get a boost to streamline the online 3D printing process.  If so, they may be up against competition.  Because they’ve come up with this concept, it may be possible that other businesses have the same idea in mind. For instance, it’s not difficult to imagine a site like MakePrintable making it easier to export files directly to 3D printing services with similar price quoting features, as well.