A once-star company with a market value of 43 billion yuan has gone bankrupt.
On July 28, 2025, a bombshell news stirred up waves in the 3D printing industry and even the entire financial field: Desktop Metal, a metal 3D printer manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code.
This technology pioneer, once hailed as a "manufacturing disruptor" and with a peak market value of nearly $6 billion (approximately 43 billion RMB), saw its market value shrink to less than $50 million when filing for bankruptcy protection. As a once - shining star enterprise in the industry, its downfall is truly lamentable. What it reflects is not only the problems of the enterprise itself but also closely related to the development trend of the entire industry.
The 3D printing industry has experienced a period of over - investment in the past. With the continuous progress of technology and the increasing market demand for manufacturing innovation, a large amount of capital poured into the industry, driving the rapid development of many enterprises. Desktop Metal is a typical representative that emerged in this wave.
The 3D Printing Company with the Highest Global Market Value
Desktop Metal was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Massachusetts, USA. Its establishment is supported by a profound technological and industrial background. The founding team is extremely impressive, including Ric Fulop, the founder of A123Systems and a former general partner of Northbridge Venture Partners, and four professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Ely Sachs, Chris Schuh, Yet - Ming Chiang, and John Hart.
These founders have rich knowledge and experience in fields such as materials science and mechanical engineering. They saw the huge potential of 3D printing technology in the metal manufacturing field and were determined to transform advanced scientific research results into practical commercial applications.
In its early days, Desktop Metal focused on the research and development of the metal binder jetting process. This technology has unique advantages. The equipment is relatively small and the printing speed is relatively fast, which can meet the needs of diverse scenarios such as office environments. With its innovative technological concept and strong team background, Desktop Metal launched its first mass - production system, the Studio System, in 2017, priced at $120,000, which shocked the industry.
This move quickly caught the attention of the capital market. Top venture capital firms such as Lux Capital, NEA, and KPCB rushed to invest, and industrial capital such as GV under Google, BMW, and Rolls - Royce also provided support. By 2020, the company had completed a private placement financing of $438 million and was valued at $2.5 billion.
The real capital climax came in December 2020. Desktop Metal chose to go public through a SPAC reverse listing and merged with Trine Acquisition Corp to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. At that time, the SPAC boom was in full swing, combined with the frenzy of the "Industry 4.0" concept, the company's valuation was pushed to an astonishing $2.3 billion. Although its revenue in the first three quarters of 2020 was only $13 million, after going public, the stock price soared to $34.94 at one point, and the market value approached $6 billion, making it the 3D printing company with the highest global market value.
The frenzy in the capital market cast a dazzling golden veil over Desktop Metal but also planted hidden dangers: The tolerance of the SPAC mechanism for the profitability of early - stage enterprises masked the fragility of its commercialization process.
Aggressive Expansion
After going public, Desktop Metal embarked on an aggressive expansion mode. From 2022 to 2024, Desktop Metal spent a total of $370 million on six acquisitions.
First, it acquired EnvisionTEC in Germany for $300 million, further expanding its business territory into the medical field. Because EnvisionTEC has significant advantages in 3D printing technology in the dental industry, and its brand ranks second in the US market and also enjoys high popularity in China.
Subsequently, the company successively acquired Adaptive3D, a US resin manufacturer; Forust, a US wood chip startup; Aerosint, a Belgian multi - material powder deposition manufacturer; ExOne, a German sand mold and metal binder jetting manufacturer; Aidro, an Italian hydraulic system manufacturer; Meta Additive, a UK binder jetting (BJT) startup, and other enterprises.
Through this series of frequent acquisitions from materials to processes, Desktop Metal built a comprehensive integrated additive manufacturing solution portfolio and ambitiously began to create its own version 2.0 of additive manufacturing, trying to dominate the 3D printing market.
However, the aggressive expansion did not help the company gain a foothold but dragged it into an abyss. In terms of innovation synergy, according to a 2024 evaluation by the Boston Consulting Group, only 32% of the patents obtained through acquisitions were converted into mass - production technologies, which exposed serious problems in the company's technology integration. There were differences in the technical systems, R & D teams, and corporate cultures of different companies, and Desktop Metal failed to effectively integrate the acquired technologies to form a synergistic effect, resulting in the "technology patchwork" failing to play its due value. The failure of this strategic adjustment made the company gradually lose its advantage in market competition and fall into an operational dilemma.
From a financial perspective, the large - scale mergers and acquisitions in 2021 not only failed to effectively integrate resources but also exacerbated the company's losses. The company's 2023 annual report data showed that the costs in this series of integration processes led to a 217% surge in management expenses.
In terms of R & D investment, Desktop Metal has long maintained a relatively high R & D expense ratio. According to the 2024 financial report data, this ratio exceeded 40%. However, the gross profit margin contributed by its core products was less than 15%. The huge gap between the large investment and the meager return gradually worsened the company's financial situation, and the rift between the capital story and the business reality became wider and wider.
From 2021 to 2023, the company accumulated a net loss of over $1 billion. When the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes in 2022 burst the technology stock bubble, DM's stock price plummeted by 96%. As the financing channels dried up, Desktop Metal's cash flow was on the verge of rupture. The Q4 2024 financial report showed that its free cash flow was - $48 million, and it only had $110 million in cash left, and the bankruptcy crisis was imminent.
Due to poor operating performance, the company's stock price was also severely hit. In November 2023, because the stock price had been below $1 for a long time, it received a delisting notice from the New York Stock Exchange. The continuous deterioration of the financial situation damaged the company's credibility in the market, increased the difficulty of financing, and further exacerbated the tightness of the capital chain.
The Final Act
Facing the increasingly severe financial difficulties, Desktop Metal reached its final act. In April 2024, Desktop Metal agreed to be acquired by Nano Dimension, an Israeli 3D printing enterprise, for $179.3 million. This price was a "rock - bottom price" compared to Desktop Metal's peak market value, only about half of the price it paid to acquire EnvisionTEC.
The acquisition process was not smooth sailing, and the progress was hampered by legal disputes. In December 2024, because Nano Dimension failed to actively promote the merger originally scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, Desktop Metal sued Nano Dimension. One week later, Nano Dimension suddenly fired Yoav Stern, the CEO who had held the position for five years and was the leader of this acquisition, without announcing the reason. Finally, the court ruled in favor of Desktop Metal's lawsuit, facilitating the completion of the transaction on April 2, 2025. After the transaction was completed, Desktop Metal was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.
Just over three months after the acquisition was completed, on July 28, 2025, Nano Dimension announced that its subsidiary, Desktop Metal, had filed for bankruptcy protection. This decision was made by Desktop Metal's independent board of directors to cope with the debt and liquidity pressure brought about by the previous decisions of the former management.
After the acquisition, Nano Dimension seems to have distanced itself financially from this troubled subsidiary. Ofir Baharav, the CEO of Nano Dimension, emphasized that the company needs to maintain its financial strength and seize strategic opportunities but did not clearly promise continuous support for Desktop Metal. After Desktop Metal filed for bankruptcy protection, it sold ExOne GmbH, EnvisionTEC GmbH, ExOne KK, and AIDRO srl to an affiliate of Anzu Partners, while promoting the orderly disposal of the company's remaining assets under court supervision.
The story of Desktop Metal is not over yet. The Chapter 11 process has given it a breathing space, but its road to rebirth is obviously full of thorns. In the increasingly competitive 3D printing industry, in addition to traditional 3D printing enterprises such as Stratasys and 3D Systems, emerging enterprises are also constantly emerging. If it wants to continue to have a place in the market, the enterprise needs to continuously invest a large amount of capital in R & D and innovation to maintain its competitiveness, which is extremely difficult for Desktop Metal with a poor financial situation.
The market believes that when reviewing the downfall of Desktop Metal, it failed due to the fuzzy and shrinking market positioning. In the early days, the company focused on "desktop - level" metal printing, but industrial customers actually needed production - level solutions. When DM turned to develop large - scale systems, it faced fierce competition from traditional machine tool giants such as Trumpf in Germany. At the same time, the downward macro - economic trend severely hit the investment willingness in the manufacturing industry. Its 2023 financial report showed that the procurement delay rate of its core industrial customer group exceeded 40%, and the order visibility deteriorated sharply. Therefore, when the capital winter came, the business model lacking stable cash flow was the first to be severely hit.
In addition, the difficulties of Desktop Metal also reflect the overall pain in the metal additive manufacturing industry. In recent years, most enterprises in the industry have faced problems such as technological R & D bottlenecks and difficulties in commercialization, resulting in insufficient profitability, and the entire industry has entered an adjustment period. In addition to Desktop Metal, many technology enterprises that went public through SPAC, such as Velodyne Lidar and Fast Radius, have also gone bankrupt or been delisted one after another.
Desktop Metal's application for bankruptcy protection also sounded an alarm for the entire 3D printing industry. It reminds enterprises that in the process of pursuing technological innovation and market expansion, they must pay attention to the commercialization of technology, reasonably control financial risks, and achieve effective resource integration and collaborative innovation.
This article is from the WeChat official account "China Venture Capital", author: Riemann. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.