Stratasys has announced an agreement to acquire 3D printing vendor Origin in a $100 million deal set to close in January 2021.
The merger is subject to various approvals and closing conditions, but will expand the industry leadership of Stratasys through ‘innovation in the fast-growing mass production parts segment’, according to the buying company. It comprises $60m paid on closing, with $6m subject to the founders’ retention over three years, and a further $40m that is subject to performance-based earnouts over three years.
Stratasys has stated that it expects Origin’s PhotoPolymerization (P3) technology to add up to $200m incremental annual revenue within five years and will enhance its position as a supplier of 3D printing technology to markets such as dental, medical, tooling, consumer goods and select industrial industries. The Origin team will join Stratasys to lead the development of P3, launching it globally via Stratasys go-to-market organisation by mid-2021.
P3 is a Digital Light Processing technology that cures liquid photopolymer resin with light and has been packaged up into the Origin One platform, which uses closed-loop feedback to precisely control light, heat, force and other parameters. Promising consistency, fine feature detail and compatibility with a wide range of high-performance resins, developed in partnership with the likes of Henkel and BASF, Origin believes its modular platform will facilitate the mass production of parts across a range of sectors.
Like many others, Origin deployed its technology to produce millions of nasopharyngeal swabs throughout 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This also represented the first time Stratasys and Origin working together, with the former marketing and promoting the latter’s testing swabs to healthcare and testing centres throughout the US. Now, the P3 technology and the team behind its development will be integrated into the Stratasys business upon completion of the deal next month.
“Our customers are looking for additive manufacturing solutions that enable use of industrial-grade resins for mass production parts with process and quality control,” commented Stratasys CEO Yoav Zeif. “We believe Origin’s software-driven Origin One system is the best in the industry by combining high throughout with incredible accuracy. When combined with Origin’s extensive materials ecosystem and our industry-leading go-to market capabilities, we believe we will be able to capture a wide range of in-demand production applications on a global scale.
Together with our intended entry into powder bed fusion technology, the acquisition of Origin reflects another step in fulfilling our objective to lead in polymer additive manufacturing by offering comprehensive, best-in-class technologies and solutions to create a fully digital additive value chain, design for Industry 4.0 integration.”
“We founded Origin to create a whole new additive manufacturing platform that enables mass production of end-use parts with incredible accuracy, consistency and throughout along with a wide range of available materials,” added Origin co-founder and CEO Christopher Prucha. “Stratasys is the best company for us to join to achieve our vision, giving us an unparalleled opportunity to significantly expand market reach and enable us to bring our P3 technology to a larger audience.”
