07-17-2018: Prodways acquired Solidscape from Stratasys
The move was to expand its market share in the dental and jewelry sectors
On July 17, 2018, Prodways Group – a French manufacturer of industrial 3D printers, listed on the French stock exchange, announced the acquisition of Solidscape – a creator of wax 3D printing technology. The acquisition was from Stratasys, which had owned Solidscape since 2011. Through this acquisition, Prodways aimed to increase its position in the dental and jewelry markets, where Solidscape’s wax applications had the greatest use. However, this did not fully succeed…? In April 2024, Solidscape was sold again – this time to "a new investor."
Solidscape is among the pioneers of 3D printing - it was founded in 1994, and has been developing wax-based 3D printing technology for investment casting applications, particularly for the jewelry market. It gained a very strong position there, becoming a sort of standard in the area of 3D printing for a while. According to information from 2018, by that time, the company had sold 5,000 wax 3D printers worldwide.
In 2018, Prodways took on the challenge and acquired Solidscape from Stratasys. The expectations of the French were that “over 12 months, Solidscape should generate revenue greater than $10 million in 2019, of which nearly 50% from sales of materials and supplies.”
It ended up that in January 2024, Prodways announced that it would discontinue its “small printers business” for the jewelry market, after disappointing performance in 2023, primarily attributed to weak machinery sales in that sector. The “small printers business” was based on the Solidscape brand.
Ultimately, on April 23, 2024, Solidscape was bought from Prodways by “a new investor” and after 13 years, is once again operating as an independent company.
Source: www.solidscape.com