Chicago-based 3D printing quality assurance software developer Phase3D, has closed a $2.9 million funding round. Quest Venture Partners led the raise, with participation from Trinity Capital, Kinisis Ventures, Leroy Street Capital Partners, Asimov Ventures, and others. The round was oversubscribed.
Proceeds will fund scaled manufacturing of Fringe Inspection, the company’s structured-light heightmap sensor, along with expanded software and data science capabilities.
Fringe Inspection: Layer-by-Layer Data in Powder Bed Fusion
Fringe Inspection uses structured-light metrology to capture surface heightmap data at each layer of a metal powder bed fusion (PBF) build. Mounted directly on the printer, the sensor runs continuously without interrupting the build process. Captured data covers powder bed consistency, spatter particle deposition, recoater streaks, and internal feature geometry, allowing operators to detect anomalies as they develop rather than during post-process CT inspection.
The technology supports decisions such as validating internal channel geometries against design tolerances, identifying spatter particles that could compromise fatigue life, and confirming powder bed uniformity across the full build plate. Phase3D serves 25 enterprise customers across aerospace, defense, and industrial sectors, with active collaborations with NASA, the U.S. Air Force (USAF), the U.S. Navy, and national laboratories including Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
Investor Confidence and Board Addition
The oversubscribed nature of the round reflects investor interest in Phase3D’s existing customer base and the broader opportunity to move metal AM from prototyping toward what the company calls “born qualified” components.
“When the Phase3D opportunity came up, what stood out was the early customer traction. It’s special to have aerospace and automotive prime customers while simultaneously addressing top-level initiatives from the Air Force, Navy, and NASA,” said Ray Farrell, incoming board member.
Farrell, a partner at Carter DeLuca with over 25 years advising on intellectual property portfolios and commercial product launches, joins Phase3D’s Board of Directors. The appointment is aimed at building IP infrastructure to support commercial growth.
From Custom Builds to Standardized Manufacturing
Phase3D COO and CFO Ben Ferrar described the funding as enabling a shift in how the company operates. “We have been through some distinct stages of growth at Phase3D. Initially we worked to develop the technology to ensure robust, repeatable measurements for metal additive manufacturing. Next, we focused heavily on deploying our products to customers to translate metrology data into meaningful decisions. Now, this investment enables us to scale up manufacturing as we drive to become the industry standard for in-situ inspection,” Ferrar said.
Founder and CEO Dr. Niall O’Dowd added, “This investment will catalyze faster adoption of real-time quality inspection for additive manufacturing, and we are very excited for the future.” The company, formerly known as Additive Monitoring, Inc., is targeting a transition from a high-mix custom build model to standardized product manufacturing at scale.
Closing the Quality Gap in Metal AM
As metal AM scales toward serial production of mission-critical components, post-process inspection has emerged as one of its most persistent cost drivers, in some cases accounting for more than half the total cost of a qualified part. Quality has historically been inferred rather than measured, and most manufacturers still rely on downstream checks to catch failures after the fact.
That is beginning to shift. Additive Industries integrated Additive Assurance‘s AMiRIS optical monitoring system into its MetalFab LPBF printers to strengthen in-process quality monitoring and support faster, more reliable qualification workflows. At the federal level, ASTRO America is leading a $1.66 million QTIME-funded project with America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) focused on reducing inspection times for LPBF parts from several hours to under one hour and cutting costs by up to 90%.
With 25 enterprise customers and active government collaborations in place, Phase3D is moving to convert early traction into production-scale deployment as the metal AM industry pushes toward certified, build-ready components.
3D Printing Industry is inviting speakers for its 2026 Additive Manufacturing Applications (AMA) series, covering Energy, Healthcare, Automotive and Mobility, Aerospace, Space and Defense, and Software. Each online event focuses on real production deployments, qualification, and supply chain integration. Practitioners interested in contributing can complete the call for speakers form here.
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Featured image shows Fringe Inspection M290 Kit. Image via Phase 3D.
