Metal 3D printing pioneer's Series C funding attracted major automakers and tech giants, including Honda and Nvidia, which led the financing.

Featured in some of the most influential publications, winner of several prestigious awards, and holder of nearly 300 patents, additive manufacturing visionary Seurat Technologies Inc. has raised US$99 million in its Series C funding led by tech giant Nvidia.

Getting its start with a metal 3D printing technology designed to aid fusion energy development at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility, Seurat has not strayed far from the initial goal of developing clean energy technologies through additive manufacturing. Rather, the company has opted to encompass an entire sector that impacts emissions on a global scale.

As one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases, responsible for roughly 31% of emissions in the U.S., conventional manufacturing has a swath of other problems that have only just come to surface due to spotlights being shined on its carbon footprint.

Through the Biden Administration's historic investments in green manufacturing and a US$6 billion commitment to cut industrial emissions, old-era industrialization issues have been brought to the forefront.

Aside from its effect on climate change, current manufacturing has become too slow, inhibits innovation, lengthens supply chains, and ultimately weakens America as a whole, as most production has been outsourced to other countries due to costs.

From this, Seurat has seen the need to reinvent and reshore manufacturing through its Area Printing technology developed at LLNL and has been constructing a facility in Boston that will possibly begin a new era of industrialization.

"Our mission is to create a green manufacturing industry," said Seurat Technologies CEO James DeMuth. "With our additive manufacturing technology, our print factories will provide our customers with clean manufacturing that can compete with the volumes, quality, and price points of traditional manufacturing. This new funding will enable Seurat to unlock our next phase of growth, deploy our new machines and scale our factory capacity to meet current demands."

Long list of investors

Announcing a US$99 million Series C round of funding, Seurat welcomed the investment led by NVentures of NVIDIA and Capricorn Investment Group for the bulk of the capital, participation from other previous investors like True Ventures, SIP Global Partners, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Denso Global, General Motors Ventures, Maniv Mobility LP, and Xerox Ventures, and new investors Honda Motor and Cubit Capital.

Seeing the potential of this disruptive manufacturing company, Honda Motor expressed its interest and expectations for the metal 3D printing company as it joined the investment group.

"Seurat has an innovative concept and technologies for metal additive manufacturing, and Honda has high expectations for their future potential," said Manabu Ozawa, managing executive officer of Honda Motor. "The metal additive manufacturing technology will enable the enhancement of the value of products through innovative design, and as Honda strives to create the joy and freedom of mobility, we envision that this technology will be necessary for us. Honda will continue to search for, collaborate with and invest in companies with a promising future through our global open innovation program – Honda Xcelerator Ventures."

With this funding, Seurat plans to deploy its printing factories at or near customer sites around the world, enabling parts to be produced in closer proximity to where they are needed, ultimately reshoring supply chains and reducing emissions caused by transportation and global logistics.

Capricorn has funded Seurat previously and continues to have high expectations for the additive manufacturing company.

"Seurat's potential to disrupt and decarbonize the traditional metal parts manufacturing industry is tremendous," says Ion Yadigaroglu, partner at Capricorn. "We have been impressed from the early days of the company by James and his team's technical expertise and acumen to build a highly scalable business, with applicability across numerous industries. We are excited to participate in this round of funding, which will enable the company to ramp up production capabilities at greater scale and ultimately grow its client base."

As the venture capital arm of one of the world's leading electronics and technology companies, NVentures has entered into the industry that its very products could help shape the future of.

"Accelerated computing is unlocking new capabilities within the manufacturing industry, while creating a path toward sustainability," said Mohamed "Sid" Siddeek, corporate vice president and head of NVentures. "Seurat's green approach to manufacturing will help transform industry standards."

As more begin to stand in line for the option to have components at arm's reach, Seurat is closing in on the day operations begin, and the world can experience what mass metal 3D printing can do.

Area printing facility

In 2022, Seurat unveiled plans to construct a 100,000-square-foot factory in the Boston area to mass produce metal parts using the company's laser printing system.

Presumed as still on track to open in the second quarter of 2024, the plant will be the first large-scale application of a new approach to metal 3D printing that could make parts up to 100 times faster than existing systems and at a scale that makes it competitive to conventional practices.

To be constructed in the Boston area, Seurat aims for 100% green energy to power its printers, which it anticipates will directly mitigate as much as 100 million tons of CO2 by 2030 due to its high-precision, high-volume, decarbonized manufacturing.

Once built, the pilot factory will have the capacity to produce more than 25 tons of metal parts annually.

The company adds that it is already oversubscribed production once operations begin, as it has Letters of Intent from six customers totaling approximately 4,000 tons of material, estimating more than US$750 million in projected revenue in the coming years.

One of these customers includes Siemens Energy, which Seurat has committed around 59 tons of metal components for use in Siemens' wind turbines over a six-year period.

With growing ESG standards beginning to put pressure on companies, the allure of 100% green energy-produced parts has grown, too. With a promised plant capable of basically knocking out that stain on the record, a Seurat guarantee may soon become commonplace for next-generation electric vehicles or clean energy technologies looking to hit guidance on emission scopes.