Stratasys acquires Markforged

Stratasys has agreed to acquire Markforged, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nano Dimension. The all-cash transaction was valued at $42.5 million. The transaction does not include the sale of Markforged’s metal binder jetting business. The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2026.

Wohlers Associates’ View:
Markforged was acquired by Nano Dimension in 2025 during a broader acquisition campaign that also included Desktop Metal and other assets. The company built its reputation around high-performance material extrusion systems capable of printing continuous fiber-reinforced composite parts, but it also expanded into metal binder jetting through the 2021 acquisition of Digital Metal from Höganäs. The Markforged product line is complementary to Stratasys’s own offering, since both companies are rooted in material extrusion technologies derived from the original FDM processes pioneered by Stratasys in the late 1980s.

Interestingly, Stratasys appears to have declined the opportunity to expand its metal AM activities through the acquisition. While Markforged’s composite and polymer systems fit naturally within Stratasys’s portfolio, the Digital Metal binder jetting business was apparently excluded from the transaction. This likely reflects the continuing uncertainty surrounding metal binder jetting as a large-scale industrial business. Despite major investments and publicity from companies such as HP and Colibrium Additive (formerly GE), the technology has not yet achieved the broad industrial adoption once anticipated. Stratasys has historically remained primarily a polymer-focused company, with only limited exposure to metals through its relationship with Tritone Technologies, in which it invested and whose systems it markets, while Tritone itself continues to operate independently.

More broadly, Nano Dimension’s acquisition strategy, fueled by the very large cash reserves it raised during 2020–2021, is now almost completely unwound. The company accumulated stakes and acquisitions across the AM industry, including a roughly 14% stake in Stratasys and a failed hostile takeover attempt for the company itself. Following the bankruptcy and divestiture of Desktop Metal, which had previously acquired ExOne, and the closure or disposal of smaller acquisitions such as NanoFabrica, Nano Dimension remains with its original additive electronics business. Ironically, that core electronics activity has represented only a relatively small portion of the company’s total revenues in recent years, despite being the technological foundation upon which the company was originally built. READ

Wells Fargo to offer mortgages on additively constructed houses

Wells Fargo will offer mortgages on houses built using 3D printing technology, called additive construction (AC), made by Austin, Texas-based ICON. The lender will also offer financial incentives in the form of preferred financing to buyers of houses produced by ICON.

Wohlers Associates’ View:
This development represents an important step in the acceptance of AC as a legitimate building method. On the surface, the willingness of major financial institutions to support mortgages for 3D-printed homes signals the crossing of an important barrier in the broader effort to commercialize and scale the technology. If lenders are prepared to underwrite these homes, it suggests growing confidence that additive construction is moving beyond the experimental stage and toward broader industrial legitimacy.

Driving this development is the reality of persistent housing shortages in the U.S. and elsewhere. Looking ahead, it appears that Wells Fargo sees the increasing inevitability of adopting new construction techniques to address cost, labor, and supply constraints. While additive construction still represents only a small portion of overall building activity today, the lender’s participation suggests that parts of the financial industry now view these methods as potentially scalable rather than purely experimental.

There are many bridges to cross before additive construction becomes fully mainstream. However, the involvement of a major financial institution is likely to push the industry toward improved performance standards, stronger regulation, greater technical validation, and higher levels of professionalism. As financing, insurance, and regulatory frameworks begin to mature around the technology, additive construction may gradually become integrated into the broader industrialized construction ecosystem rather than remaining a niche demonstration technology. READ

3D-printed silicone approved for the food industry

French company Lynxter has launched an FDA-compliant printable silicone for food contact applications. The material is intended for components such as seals, scrapers, molds, and conveyor parts used in food processing environments.

Wohlers Associates’ View:
Silicone is a highly versatile material with attractive properties such as flexibility, chemical resistance, and the ability to withstand both high and low temperatures. As a result, there have been numerous efforts over the years to develop industrial 3D printing solutions for silicone, although few have achieved broad commercial adoption. In sectors such as food and medical applications, the challenge becomes even greater because of the additional regulatory requirements imposed on materials that come into contact with the human body or consumables.

In food applications, the regulatory focus is on avoiding substances that may migrate into products or raise concerns regarding human absorption and long-term exposure. Medical applications often impose even stricter requirements, including biocompatibility and, in some cases, long-term implantation approvals. While the silicone itself may already be approved for such uses, any modification introduced by the additive manufacturing process, such as photopolymers, binders, curing agents, or support materials, can require prolonging the qualification process or even possibly beginning afresh.

Demand for 3D-printed silicone parts therefore appears most likely to emerge in specialized or customized applications, where the value of rapid production outweighs the economics of conventional tooling. This is particularly relevant for spare parts management in food processing systems and for custom molds in high-end food-tech applications. However, large-scale production molds are still likely to remain dominated by conventional molding technologies, which continue to offer superior economics and throughput for mass production. READ

HeyGears raises RMB300 million for color dental printing

The funding, the equivalent of $44 million, was raised in a Series C round led by Legend Capital and Fortune Capital. The investment will be used to expand its color offerings. Its business is dominated by its activities in the dental segment.

Wohlers Associates’ View:
The dental market continues to expand its adoption of additive manufacturing technologies, with one of the most important recent developments being the move toward fully printed dentures. Traditionally, dentures were highly labor-intensive products involving multiple manual assembly and bonding steps.

Several leading companies now compete in this rapidly emerging segment of digitally manufactured dentures, including 3D Systems, Stratasys, Novenda Technologies, and startup Fugo 3D. HeyGears also has a denture application in its portfolio. The competitive focus is increasingly centered on full-color and multi-material denture production. The industry is moving toward digitally manufactured dentures that can be produced in a single workflow with increasingly realistic color and improved properties. READ

3D-printed silver coils improve MRI results

Scientists at the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California, supported by colleagues in Germany and South Korea, have developed a customizable 3D-printed coil for use in MRI imaging of the wrist. The silver coil is printed on a polymer substrate and wraps around the wrist, ensuring maximum conformity to each patient’s anatomy. The inexpensive coil improves imaging quality while enabling the use of lower-power MRI equipment. READ

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