Digital Manufacturing Platform Carbon Raises $260M

Carbon, a digital manufacturing platform, has raised more than $260 million in a funding round led by Baillie Gifford and Madrone Capital Partners, according to a release by the company.

Temasek, Arkema, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Adidas Ventures, JSR Corporation and Sequoia Capital all participated in the round.

Carbon has raised upwards of $680 million so far.

“Carbon plans to use this new capital to expand R&D efforts, establishing its first Advanced Development Facility (ADF), and to fuel international growth and expansion in Europe and Asia. The ADF will enable Carbon’s engineering teams to improve Carbon’s platform and workflows in scaled-up manufacturing environments to better support its customers and partners,” the company said. “These strategic areas of investment will allow Carbon to continue delivering on the promise of 3D printing by enabling its customers in industries including healthcare, automotive, and consumer goods to accelerate product innovation and create breakthrough products that are digitally manufactured at scale.”

Dr. Joseph DeSimone, Carbon’s CEO and co-founder, said the company wants to innovate.

“With the Carbon Platform, powered by our Digital Light Synthesis technology, companies are finally breaking free of the constraints of traditional polymer manufacturing methods to make what’s next now, and at speeds and volumes never before possible,” he said.

Carbon is going to use the capital to invest in developing reusable materials and to improve the capabilities of its software, like the company’s Digital Manufacturing Cloud.

“Carbon’s software objectives will emphasize automated design tools focused on algorithmic lattice generation, as well as improved digital factory workflow, including fleet monitoring, quality control, and compliance information management,” the company said. “As part of this expansion, Carbon will continue developing and improving the automation, monitoring, and analytics software that enables large-scale production on the Carbon Platform.”

Greg Penner, founder and general partner at Madrone Capital Partners and chairman of Walmart, said he was impressed by the company.

“What impresses me about Carbon is their diversification across markets and industries,” Penner said. “Through their partnerships with large-scale manufacturers in automotive, healthcare, and consumer goods, they are proving that, with their Digital Light Synthesis technology, additive manufacturing in larger scale production is becoming a reality across industry sectors. This is an inflection point for the company, and we’re proud to be able to contribute to Carbon’s future success.”