3D printing material high-tech enterprise Polymaker completes a new financing round of over CNY100 million, invested by Blue Lake Capital

Recently, Suzhou Jufu Polymer Materials Co., Ltd., the owner of Polymaker, the renowned brand of 3D printing materials, completed a new financing round of over CNY100 million. This latest round of financing was participated by Blue Lake Capital, Skytrace Capital, Sharelink Capital, IDG Capital and Changshu Guofa Venture Capital, with 100Summit Partners acting as the financial advisor. The proceeds of this financing round will be primarily used for the layout of global production capacity and supply chain, product R&D, new market development, and application scenario expansion.

Founded in 2012, Polymaker is headquartered in Jiangsu and has subsidiaries in Shanghai, North America, and Europe. The global 3D printing material provider focuses on the development and manufacturing of materials using the extrusion-based 3D printing technology such as FDM/FFF. It offers products that are respectively designed for consumers, professionals, and manufacturers, and can be applied to automotive, aerospace, industrial manufacturing, medicine, architecture, consuming and other scenarios.

Material is a critical restraining factor for downstream applications, because the richness of material varieties will directly impact the application potential of 3D printing devices. Technically, Polymaker’s core technologies lie in the printability, functionality, applicability, and sustainability of its materials. The company boasts multiple exclusive patents in improving the performance of printing materials, which thus enhances the quality of 3D printing products.

The patents include Jam-Free (the technology that prevents jammed nozzles), Layer-Free (the technology that enables Nylon-based filaments to be 3D printed with near-zero warpage), the Nano-reinforcement technology, and the Fiber Adhesion technology. The Jam-Free technology, for example, raises the softening temperatures of Polymaker’s PLA filaments from 60 °C to 140 °C by increasing the degree of crystallinity of materials, addressing the root cause of jammed nozzles. The aforementioned sustainability mainly refers to the efforts of being more adapted to the major trend of sustainable development, the new business model of shortening the supply chain, as well as the recycling and reuse of printing wastes.

In terms of scale, considering that the material industry is highly dependent on the scale effect, Polymaker adopts an omni-channel strategy by positioning itself as a provider for full-coverage solutions to materials using the extrusion-based 3D printing technology. It aims to cover material demands from all sectors and segments globally and continues to enrich and iterate its current materials. Xiaofan Luo disclosed, Polymaker’s existing materials and formulation cover about 80% to 90% of the demands from scenarios using extrusion- based 3D printing technology.

“Blue Lake tracks the additive manufacturing sector in a long time and remains bullish about it. We found Polymaker, an outstanding team, along the industry chain. We are delighted to see that the emerging technique of fused filament fabrication of non-metals is lightening various industries like fire sparks. These industries are not limited to the hand model sector and 3D printing factories for mass production. On the other hand, the production, printing, and manufacturing of end products are driving the further expansion of the future market of upstream materials. We believe the excellent team can be a rare China-based material provider for the global market in the sector of additive manufacturing”, said Haitao Wei, partner of Blue Lake Capital.

In recent years, Blue Lake Capital has kept a close eye on the trend of additive manufacturing and has actively invested in outstanding start-up companies in relevant sectors. Blue Lake Capital’s portfolio companies include unicorns in multiple industries, such as Raise3D and Chaozhuo Aviation Technology (688237.SH). Notably, the latter was listed on the STAR market on July 1, 2022.