There was a short moment – maybe it lasted a few weeks, maybe a few months – it’s hard to say. But there was a moment when Poland’s Zortrax was the undisputed leader in the desktop FFF 3D printer market.
It was 2015. Zortrax was bigger than MakerBot, bigger than Ultimaker, bigger than any other company in the mid-2010s.
It didn’t last long – but it was a fact.
It was a true phenomenon! It was achieved by a company from Poland – a country that at the time wasn’t associated at all with being a cradle of new technologies! And what’s more, it was based in Olsztyn – a city in the north-east of the country, about which even most Poles wouldn’t be able to say anything interesting in terms of economy or industry.
Well, maybe with one exception – back in communist times there was a tire factory there – OZOS – Olsztyńskie Zakłady Opon Samochodowych. Later, Michelin bought the plant and in 2015 turned it into one of its largest tire factories in the world. But last year they moved production to Romania because it was cheaper, and now there is no tire production in Olsztyn at all.
And yet, in such a city as Olsztyn, in the mid-2010s operated one of the largest and most important manufacturers of desktop-grade FFF 3D printers in the world.
Its flagship model – the Zortrax M200 – was absolutely groundbreaking at the time of its market debut! In 2014 it set a new standard and trend for building FFF 3D printers for the following years.
Unlike competing products, which still largely followed the RepRap design (with all its disadvantages), Zortrax offered a far more professional and user-friendly solution that also delivered excellent (for the time) print quality at a relatively low price.
It had phenomenally simple software (Z-SUITE) and a proprietary line of high-quality filaments (Z-ULTRAT among others).
Although it was a closed system – contrary to the prevailing open-source and open-hardware dogma of the time – it turned out to be exactly what the new wave of 3D printer users wanted. Ease of use, minimal settings, repeatability, and high-quality output.
The company won every industry competition and successfully broke into the mainstream (at least locally – in Poland).
It became a benchmark and role model. Every company in Poland – whether they liked them or not – wanted to be like Zortrax. But Zortrax was also imitated by companies outside of Poland – even outside Europe.
The M200 is one of the iconic desktop 3D printer models in history.
That was 10 years ago.
Today, few people remember it.
Today, the company is collapsing.
Two days ago (06-08-2025), its long-time CEO – Mariusz Babula – resigned
He will be replaced by Angelina Stokłosa – until now the Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board, who is a lawyer by profession (and even holds a PhD).
I’m not sure she’s the right person to lead a 3D printer manufacturer.
Especially now. In a market dominated by Bambu Lab and Creality. Especially for a company that announced restructuring a year ago. That still hasn’t published its annual report, for which it was suspended from the stock exchange. That, in a desperate attempt to save itself financially, issued tokens… 😧
Their last original FFF 3D printer – the Zortrax Endureal – was released 6 years ago (2019), and its last 3D printer at all – the resin-based Zortrax Inkspire 2 – was released 4 years ago (2021).
Both launches took place before the Bambu Lab X1 and the revolution it sparked in the desktop 3D printing market (not to mention the Formlabs Form 4 from 2024, which did the same for the resin 3D printer market).
No, I really don’t think anything can still succeed here. Mariusz Babula – though often criticized by the company’s small shareholders – in my opinion was the last link connecting Zortrax to even the idea of survival.
I spoke with Mariusz some time ago – after I joined Bambu Lab. He still wanted to fight, still believed it was possible to rescue the company. Despite many problems and Poland’s merciless system for businesses in financial trouble – he promised a relentless battle.
I don’t know what happened, but he decided to give it up… Formally, he will remain CEO only until August 18, 2025. Then he will be replaced by the aforementioned Angelina Stokłosa, PhD. I don’t know her, so I can’t say anything about her.
But I’ll repeat once more – after spending over a year in the very core of the global AM industry, I see absolutely no real chance for this company to rise again. Definitely not as an FFF 3D printer manufacturer. Definitely not without tens of millions in funding. And not in Polish złoty – in EUR or USD.
I’ve written about Zortrax’s downfall in many past articles:
But there’s one thing I’ve never written about before.
That in 2019, Olsztyn was visited by a very well-known industry CEO, from a very well-known (and still successful) AM company, to talk about acquiring Zortrax.
The meeting was organized by Mariusz Babula. But the then CEO and cofounder – Rafał Tomasiak – is said to have said no.
The story was told to me by that CEO, and Babula confirmed it few months later.
I don’t know if the offer was too low, or the terms weren’t right. I do know that even then Zortrax’s situation was difficult, and rejecting that deal now seems as foolish as the story of that guy who in 2009 threw away a hard drive with 7,500 Bitcoins, and is now digging through a landfill trying to find it.
A few years later, after Zortrax entered Poland’s NewConnect stock market via a SPAC merger, various small shareholders on Poland’s largest stock forum (Bankier.pl) speculated about who and when would buy the company. Maybe BASF and its Forward AM? Or maybe Stratasys or 3D Systems? Or some other company (they were very creative in their theories).
Meanwhile, the real buyer was in Olsztyn in 2019 and wanted to close the deal. But Zortrax rejected it. Everything that happened afterwards? Karma…
Karma stretching back to January 2014 and my infamous article about selling 5,000 3D printers to DELL. A deal that never happened.
That event kickstarted Zortrax’s incredible career, but it was also a turning point for the development of the entire 3D printing industry in Poland. Everyone in Poland wanted to be like Zortrax. Everyone wanted to sell 3D printers to DELL.
You could say that the success of Poland’s 3D printing industry was built on a Zortrax lie.
Sad.
But that’s the truth.
Looking back at all this, the phrase comes to mind: they got what they deserved
Zortrax was given many chances by the world. More than many others ever get. They had their five minutes of great fame. But beyond that, it’s been a story of an endlessly drawn-out collapse.
I honestly don’t know if it can be saved.
I tinkered with a Zortrax m200 back in 2016. It was one of the best 3d printer metal boxes out there period. So many firsts ..just ahead of its time. Shenzhen based Kingroon (model KP1) and Twotrees (model Woodpecker) even copied it ..the clones were the first printers I got to test as a potential reseller for these two brands in early 2017( i still have them!). At some point I think Zortrax stopped innovating. Even the KP1 v2 that came out was now better than whatever Zortrax was putting out. Also one of the key learnings I have from the Creality enders and now Bambu P1/X1 is that ubiquity of spares also drives incredible sales. Zortrax missed that bus.