Fabric8Labs Closes on $50 Million

Fabric8Labs, a provider of electrochemical additive manufacturing, has closed a $50 million series B investment round led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from existing investors, including Intel Capital, imec.xpand, SE Ventures, TDK Ventures, and Lam Capital.

Electrochemical additive manufacturing (ECAM) is a type of 3D printing that uses electrical currents to deposit metal materials layer by layer to form complex structures. ECAM combines the principles of electrochemistry and materials science to produce high-quality metal parts with fine details and high accuracy. The process is often used for the production of aerospace, data center, RF communications, medical, electric vehicles, wearables, and a range of consumer electronics products.

In addition to enabling advancements in electronics – Fabric8Labs is developing medical device applications and micro-mechanical components including advanced surgical tools, sensors, diagnostic equipment, and micro-electro-mechanical (MEMs) systems.

ECAM is uniquely suited to produce ultra-high resolution, pure copper components, which can be directly printed onto temperature-sensitive substrates such as PCBs, silicon, or existing metal components. The use of ECAM enables more than a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to alternative additive technologies and traditional manufacturing.

Metal additive manufacturing (metal AM) has an average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27% over the last 10 years. The adoption of metal AM for high-volume manufacturing has been limited due to the constraints of powder-based feedstocks and thermal processes which drive high-costs, insufficient repeatability, and limitations in feature resolution. In contrast, ECAM builds at the atomic level from a water-based feedstock containing dissolved metal ions. The electrochemical approach allows for micron-scale feature resolution, complex internal features, high-purity materials, and rapid scalability to support mass manufacturing.

According to Fabric8Labs, the new capital will be used to scale the company’s electrochemical additive manufacturing (ECAM) technology and establish a pilot production facility.

Fabric8Labs, led by CEO and co-founder Jeff Herman, was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in San Diego.  “We are thrilled to have NEA’s support in executing our vision,” said Mr. Herman. “It is critical to have partners that are aligned with our mission to fundamentally shift manufacturing with a sustainable, additive manufacturing approach; and we have been fortunate to surround ourselves with a team of top tier investors.”

“The potential of Fabric8Labs’ novel technology is undeniable, and we believe ECAM is suited to support a wide range of applications across the electronics value chain,” said Jennifer Ard, a managing director at Intel Capital. “As the team works to scale their offerings, they’ll be able to deliver value across multiple business units for their customers, furthering their value-add.”

“ECAM stands out as truly differentiated among the sea of approaches to additive manufacturing,” said Greg Papadopoulos, PhD., a venture partner at NEA. “You can avoid expensive post-processing, easily build complex things at micron-scale, print directly on your existing substrates, and do all of this at scale with, by far, the lowest energy – and thus carbon – footprint.  We’re thrilled to partner with Jeff and the Fabric8Labs team on this revolution for additive manufacturing.”

New Enterprise Associates was founded in 1977 and its investment history includes more than 270 portfolio company IPOs and more than 440 mergers and acquisitions. NEA has offices in Menlo Park, California; Chevy Chase, Maryland; and New York City.

© 2023 Venture Capital Investor | February 7, 2023