Xometry, which provides an on-demand manufacturing marketplace, has secured new funding from GE Ventures.
Along with existing investors, this brings the total that the company has brought in to around $23 million.
“We created a marketplace by creating price clarity where none existed,” said Randy Altschuler, co-founder and CEO of Xometry. “We thought if you can buy groceries and order a car off the internet, then why not custom parts?
“Xometry is now home to the fastest-growing software driven marketplace of manufacturers. We can now accelerate our investment to meet more of our customer’s needs.”
For those of us outside of the continental US, Xometry is a name that might be all that familiar, so perhaps a recap is in order. To make things short, Xometry offers a marketplace that connects a combination of manufacturing partners with customers. If you want a part manufactured, you unload your geometry to a quote (along with drawings if required).
This kicks off the company’s own internal computation process, which predicts the price, based on your requirements, materials, and other factors (such as post processing, tolerance requirements, lead time, quantity etc.).
It then offers those parts up to its network of manufacturing partners, who take on the jobs. It currently offers a range of 3D print services, as well as more traditional CNC and sheet metal capabilities.
What’s interesting is that this isn’t a Unlike other systems, Xometry isn’t a brokerage. It takes the gamble on the price, takes the order and pays the manufacturer once the parts are delivered. The billing and invoicing is all handled by Xometry, so the partners just focus on manufacturing the parts.
We’re currently waiting to pick up some parts that the company has built for us over the last week, so we’ll be reporting on the process in the April issue so stay tuned.
