LEGO and Stanley Black & Decker Invest in Evolve Additive Solutions
The $19 million equity investment and consortium of strategic partners will help advance the company's STEP additive manufacturing technology toward commercialization.
Evolve Additive Solutions, the creator of Selective Thermoplastic Electrophotographic Process (STEP) technology, has announced the completion of an equity investment of $19 million led by the LEGO Brand Group with participation from Stanley Black and Decker Investments and a third undisclosed investor.
STEP, designed for automated manufacturing and factory-floor integration, allows users to utilize production-grade thermoplastics for volume manufacturing applications across multiple industries, including consumer, automotive, industrial and medical. The highly scalable and extensible solution combines Evolve’s proprietary technology with the capability of electrophotography, to produce additive manufactured parts that are said to meet or exceed traditionally manufactured parts.
“Evolve has entered an exciting new growth phase as we begin commercial development of our proprietary STEP technology,” says Steve Chillscyzn, CEO of Evolve Additive Solutions. “We are excited to have forged equity partnerships with world leading companies that recognize the production potential of STEP and are committed to working alongside Evolve to bring the technology to commercialization.”
“LEGO Brand Group has invested in Evolve because it is an attractive investment opportunity, which can benefit the LEGO brand. The LEGO Group has been using additive manufacturing technology for more than 20 years. Today, the company mainly employs the technology to create prototypes in the development of new products and we believe that the technology will become an even more important supplement to the current injection moulding capabilities in the future. With Evolve Additive Solutions we have found a very competent partner within this area,” says Per Hjuler, LEGO Brand Group business development.
“We are excited about the potential impact that Evolve’s unique Additive Manufacturing technology could have on the production of high quality medium volume plastic components for a number of our product categories,” said Tim Hatch Chief Technology Officer for Stanley Engineered Fasteners.
Other investors in Evolve Additive Solutions include Stratasys, Inc. as a minority shareholder as well as an undisclosed investor. BNP Paribas acted as exclusive financial advisors to Evolve. The senior management team of Evolve Additive Solutions brings over 40 years of combined experience in additive manufacturing and is supported by a very experienced Board of Directors with expertise in managing and counseling both private and publically-held companies.
Related Content
-
FDA-Approved Spine Implant Made with PEEK: The Cool Parts Show #63
Curiteva now manufactures these cervical spine implants using an unusual 3D printing method: fused strand deposition. Learn how the process works and why it’s a good pairing with PEEK in this episode of The Cool Parts Show.
-
3D Printing with Plastic Pellets – What You Need to Know
A few 3D printers today are capable of working directly with resin pellets for feedstock. That brings extreme flexibility in material options, but also requires greater knowledge of how to best process any given resin. Here’s how FGF machine maker JuggerBot 3D addresses both the printing technology and the process know-how.
-
ActivArmor Casts and Splints Are Shifting to Point-of-Care 3D Printing
ActivArmor offers individualized, 3D printed casts and splints for various diagnoses. The company is in the process of shifting to point-of-care printing and aims to promote positive healing outcomes and improved hygienics with customized support devices.
