All those left behind
AM Survivor #9
This week, the entire AM industry is grappling with the bankruptcy of Desktop Metal, analyzing the causes behind their spectacular collapse, as well as reflecting on the promises the company’s representatives once made to investors.
Amid all this noise, however, lots of other people are being overlooked...
the resellers of Desktop Metal and all the sub-brands Ric Fulop acquired over the years
the service providers who built their businesses around Desktop Metal’s solutions and its broad portfolio of machines
the end customers who are now left with museum pieces instead of machines.
They’ve all been left on their own.
With no support, no spare parts, and no official explanation.
Let alone a simple: “We are sorry.”
This wasn’t a typical bankruptcy. Normally, companies fail for understandable reasons:
shifts in the geopolitical landscape (war, economic crises, trade wars, etc.)
changes in end-user purchasing trends
technological leaps that render products obsolete
the departure of a founder or key leaders, and their replacement with less competent leadership
poor product or marketing strategy (e.g., this year’s Jaguar campaign).
No, Desktop Metal’s case is different.
This was a company doomed to fail from the start. Its original technologies were either weak from a usability perspective (Bound Metal Deposition) or not original at all (Metal Binder Jetting, branded internally as Single Pass Jetting).
For about seven years, it managed to wrap those technologies in layers of supposed innovation and uniqueness. It sold its products as a revolution that would change the face of manufacturing.
But while investors bought into the hype, end customers largely did not, creating a massive gap between the scale of investment and the revenue being generated.
So Desktop Metal started buying revenue — by acquiring EnvisionTEC and ExOne. But this only led to an increase in headcount, and already high operating costs spiraled further, accelerating their cash burn.
Add to that a series of acquisitions of smaller companies and startups, and what emerged was a corporate Frankenstein—an unwieldy monster incapable of moving in a single direction.
It became a self-propelling suicide machine.
In its pursuit of revenue, the company kept growing, which increased its internal costs, which in turn demanded more revenue, which it tried to achieve through more acquisitions, which again increased costs… and so on.
Eventually, the company ran out of money entirely — and even the forced acquisition by Nano Dimension couldn't save it.
But most of you already know all this.
The end surprised no one.
But it left behind a trail of casualties.
The Victims
The worst part of it all was that until the very end, they pretended everything was fine. That these were just temporary problems. That it could all be fixed.
For many resellers and users of Desktop Metal machines, the bankruptcy news came as a complete surprise.
Honestly, I bet there are still people out there who haven’t even heard about it yet!
It was the same with Nexa3D. Operationally, that company collapsed in the fall of 2024, when one day its CEO simply packed up his office and left for good. And yet, from the outside, for more than half a year, everything still looked like the company was functioning.
The infamous statement from December 2024 was nothing but corporate gibberish:
Finally, in July 2025, after several months of behind-the-scenes talks and maneuvering, it was announced that Stratasys acquired “selected assets”.
Now, this exact same story is repeating itself with Desktop Metal.
No one confirms anything. No one explains anything. No one says a word.
Here’s the entire statement from Nano Dimension — the legal owner of Desktop Metal:
Nano Dimension Ltd. (...) today announced that its subsidiary, Desktop Metal, Inc. (“Desktop Metal”), has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.
The decision to file for bankruptcy protection was made by Desktop Metal’s independent Board of Directors, who conducted a process to explore available strategic alternatives and address Desktop Metal’s significant liabilities and liquidity needs stemming from decisions made by its prior management.
Ofir Baharav, Nano Dimension’s CEO, said: “We are safeguarding our financial strength and preserving our position as the best capitalized company in our ecosystem. This is what enables the Company to pursue strategic opportunities from a position of maximum strength — and that is exactly what the Company’s shareholders should expect from us.”
What does this tell the resellers?
What does it tell machine users?
Frankly, I don’t blame the people at Nano Dimension for being cautious in their communications — after all, they didn’t want this rotten apple in the first place. It was forced on them by a court as a consequence of the reckless actions of the previous CEO, Yoav Stern.
But someone should step up and explain all this.
I don’t know — maybe the same person who once spoke about Desktop Metal’s bright future at all those conferences and seminars?
When I speak with representatives of various companies about the state of the AM market, we usually talk about the same recurring issues:
• the slow adoption of new technology in manufacturing
• a lack of customer awareness about when and how to apply 3D printing
• a lack of standards, norms, and procedures
• the difficulty of operating machines (especially in metal AM).
But the situation described above adds another, deeper problem: a lack of trust in companies. A lack of market stability.
How can anyone trust the idea of investing in new technology, when every quarter, it seems another AM company quits the business (like Trumpf recently), or declares bankruptcy (like BCN3D)? And the explanations are either vague corporate speak—or nonexistent.
Yes, company failures are a natural part of any business landscape. But the way it happens in the AM sector is anything but professional.
I’d even say it’s dishonorable.
It shouldn’t be that someone spends years basking in the spotlight of the 3D printing world, presenting themselves as a major industry figure — and then vanishes with no explanation and no way to be contacted.
Or that someone can be the CEO of Company A, and then suddenly become CEO of Company B, never uttering another word about Company A (which decays and rots in their morbid shadow).
That’s not serious. That’s not adult behavior.
If companies don’t respect their customers and partners, they shouldn’t expect to be respected in return.