MEDFORD,
Mass., May 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Inkbit™, a
pioneer in advanced additive manufacturing solutions, announced
today the closing of a $19M financing
round led by Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:
IR), with participation from Future Labs Capital, GC Ventures
America, iGlobe Partners, Ocado, Phoenix Venture Partners,
Stratasys, Zeon Ventures, and other private investors. As part of
the transaction, Jason Weber, Vice
President of Engineering, Compressor Systems and Services,
North America, and Henry Ford III, Director at the Ford Motor
Company and Trustee at the Ford Foundation, will join the Inkbit
Board of Directors.
Inkbit envisions a world where new ideas for physical products
can be tested, refined and deployed as rapidly as software.
Innovation is an iterative process that flourishes on speed:
prototypes should be on hand rapidly and should perform as closely
as possible to the finished product. To accelerate this process,
Inkbit has developed Vision-Controlled Jetting™ (VCJ), a
multi-material manufacturing system that scales seamlessly from
prototyping to production on the same platform. The technology
converges advances in computation, chemistry and process control,
to enable rapid manufacturing of innovative products such as
complex industrial fluidics and bio-inspired robots.
"From the moment we met with the extraordinary Inkbit team and
saw its novel Vision-Controlled Jetting (VCJ) technology, we wanted
to be part of the journey to drive commercialization and adoption
across life science and industrial applications," said Vicente Reynal, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of Ingersoll Rand.
"Together, we can transform how the industry thinks about component
manufacturing and accelerate innovation."
Inkbit's technology was originally conceived in the Computer
Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. At its core, it is a reimagination of the
traditional assembly line. VCJ combines the scalability,
reliability and throughput of the original assembly line with the
flexibility and intelligence of 3D machine vision-based feedback
control. Parts are built layer-by-layer on a platform that moves
under several stations, each performing a specific function, such
as material jetting, UV curing, inspection, cooling, etc. Unlike
the traditional assembly line, where each subcomponent requires a
dedicated production process and supply chain, VCJ builds
multi-functional products in one pass, starting from raw
materials.
"A century ago, my great great-grandfather developed the moving
assembly line – a production method that revolutionized the
automotive industry and manufacturing in general. I am delighted to
join Inkbit and contribute to reinventing the assembly line for the
factories of the future" said Henry Ford
III, who joins Inkbit as Independent Director.
"This new partnership with Ingersoll
Rand marks a key milestone in the history of our company. We
are evolving from an equipment provider to partnering
with manufacturers to develop new materials and processes to enable
the acceleration and simplification of product innovation. For me
personally, and for our team at Inkbit, being able to learn from
and be inspired by some of the most iconic names in the history of
American manufacturing is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I look
forward to building on this extraordinary tradition of technical
ingenuity and operational excellence. Together, we will create the
factories of the future," said Davide
Marini, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer at Inkbit.
Inkbit's VCJ technology is poised to revolutionize the way we
think about product design and manufacturing, especially in fields
that require multi-step assembly processes and complex supply
chains. Inkbit's technology opens new possibilities in fields like
robotics, healthcare, mobility, industrial automation and defense.
Inkbit partners with industry-leading companies to enable the next
generation of products. To learn more, visit
https://inkbit3d.com.
About Inkbit
Inkbit is an additive manufacturing company located in
Medford, Massachusetts. The Inkbit
Vista™ system is designed for volume production of complex polymer
3D printed parts. Incorporating a novel technology called
Vision-Controlled Jetting (VCJ), Inkbit delivers a multi-material
additive manufacturing solution that accelerates the translation of
ideas into products. To learn more or to read Inkbit's study
published in Nature about how the Inkbit technology can
change the way we manufacture multi-material systems, without
assembly of subcomponents, visit us
at https://inkbit3d.com.
Media Contact
Sheree Titan-Ford, Inkbit
Phone: 508-308-7019
Email: stitan-ford@inkbit3d.com
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ingersoll-rand-leads-19m-financing-round-for-inkbit-to-advance-multi-functional-additive-manufacturing-302136987.html
SOURCE Inkbit
