Spectroplast AG, a developer of silicone-based 3D printing solutions headquartered in Switzerland, has completed a Series A round for an undisclosed amount. New investor HZG Group led the round, which also had participation from existing investor AM Ventures, leader of the company’s 2019 seed round.

Spectroplast spun out of ETH Zurich in 2018, leveraging its proprietary Silicone Additive Manufacturing (SAM) technology to provide on-demand parts to customers from a range of verticals, especially any industry where biocompatibility is a top priority. The company claims that products printed from its TrueSil resin are indistinguishable from injection molded counterparts, with the printed parts being a cost-effective alternative to injection molding for production rates of between 1 and 50,000 units.

Spectroplast plans to use the new influx of capital to broaden its applications range and strengthen its support capacity for existing customers. Given China’s role as the world’s largest exporter of silicone, and the US’s status as the fastest growing export market, interest in 3D printed applications for silicone could benefit from heightening trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

In a press release, the chair of the company, Dr. Pablo Hafner, said, “We are delighted in the confidence shown in us by the two most prominent VC investors in 3D printing start-ups. With HZG Group, we have not only secured fresh capital for further company growth but will also benefit from important entrepreneurial impetus from industry pioneers who have established metal as a completely new material for industrial 3D printing. Similarly, we want to establish silicone and the world of elastomers in the industry.”

CTO of HZG Group, Dr. Florian Bechmann, said, “With Spectroplast, silicone is becoming a high-end polymer for the 3D printing industry. We believe in this theme, in the management team and their expertise in consistently exploiting the many positive material properties of silicone for 3D printing. Thanks to its chemical structure, silicone has a high biocompatibility and is very resistant to environmental influences and temperature.”

Considering the importance of applications related to factory floor maintenance in the AM industry’s current juncture, silicone should be an increasingly in-demand material in the near future. Among other applications, the material’s use in gaskets, seals, and robotic grippers makes silicone an indispensable component for maximizing uptime in the assembly lines of virtually all manufacturing industries.

As there are still quite a limited number of options available for 3D printed silicone, Spectroplast’s backing by two of the AM industry’s most knowledgeable VC firms puts the company in a unique position to seize upon the next wave of industry growth. Axtra3D recently announced that it has released a TrueSil product compatible with the company’s Lumia X1 printer, suggesting that Spectroplast is already benefiting from HZG Group’s portfolio cross-synergy: the VC firm also recently led the second phase of Axtra3D’s Series A round.

In addition to medical/dental, hearing devices, and industrial applications, wearable electronics could be a major growth opportunity for Spectroplast, specifically, and silicone 3D printing in general. As electronics supply chains are some of the most sensitive to geopolitically-driven trade disruptions, this market may in fact prove to be the largest catalyst for new activity in the silicone AM space over the next decade.

Images courtesy of Spectroplast AG