When 3D Printing Industry first covered BotFactory in April of this year, the 3 year old start-up had already won the Best Technical Development Manufacturing Award at IDTechEx, for the development of their full-package PCB printing technology Squink. Maintaining momentum, the team has now received a $1.3 million investment from the New York Angels, a group of angel investors. The added cash injection sees Angels director Larry Richenstein joining the board at BotFactory who, incidentally, is also chairman on The CEA Foundation; an affiliate of the Consumer Electronics Association which seeks to use technology to enhance the lives of those in need.
So far it seems that BotFactory intend to use the cash injection to contribute to product development, and the already lucrative sales and marketing efforts first launched via their kickstarter campaign, funded in 2014. When 3D Printing Industry spoke to the VP of Sales and Marketing at BotFactory back in April of 2016, he commented on the broad range of customers involved with the Squink, mentioning personal projects such as “one lady who bought one specifically to make light-up Lego blocks,” and projects also targeting the industrial user such as “one guy working at NASA with flexible electronics who said our machine is capable of doing what they need.” Botfactory’s VP JF Brandon then concluded the statement by saying:
“While the road has been long and tough, we believe that fundamentally in the end were changing the way people look at electronics in the same way 3D printing is changing the way people look at physical objects.”
With this latest funding announcement one of the more active market segments this year, 3D printed electronics, receives a further boost. The ability to prototype circuit boards in house is a attractive option for companies looking to quickly iterate design and respond to market events. For BotFactory, this additional funding will leave them well placed to harness the growing sector.
