In the ongoing quest to search for a more efficient supply chain, 3D manufacturing startup mything.com aims to connect potential customers with designers and local manufacturers to provide them with custom-made 3D printed objects.
After securing €2.1 million from Vienna-based KaPA Ventures, mything is set to launch this autumn.
More about mything
The mything platform is a space where designers worldwide can upload jewellery, accessories and gadget models. These can then be customised and then sent directly to a local manufacturer, who 3D prints it for the end customer.
3D printers, laser cutting technicians and product designers can all sign up free of charge; with the incentive to use mything’s platform for market exposure and a potential revenue stream.
Designer, printer & end-user
Speaking to start-up network Der Brutkasten, mything CEO Florian Mott expressed his hope that “many products and goods of daily use will be purchased over our platform in the future and digitally produced close to the buyer.” (Translated from the original German.)
So far, some of KaPA’s cash injection has gone on prize money for online contests run by mything, with the aim of recruiting talent and jewellery creating designs to sell and monetising the.
KaPA investor Frank Kappe, a professor at the Graz University of Technology, gave important justifications for investing in the mything technology saying, “the expiry of important patents in this sector means that enormous sums are currently being invested in taking the technology to the next level.”
Previous patent expiration on modes of production has resulted in waves of investment into 3D printing technologies. Coupled with the projected increase in domestic and industrial 3D printing appliances, KaPA’s investment is undoubtedly a shrewd one.
The local manufacturing trend
That is not to say, however, that mything’s model is unique. 3D Hubs, headquartered in Amsterdam, runs a similar model facilitating connections between designers and printing hubs.
A number of 3D printing companies and service providers are also opening up regional manufacturing hubs, bringing customers closer to the production process than ever before.
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Featured image: Don the Donkey – an example of a customised mything design. Photo via: mything.
