3D printer producer BCN3D has filed for voluntary chapter, based on official court docket paperwork seen by 3D Printing Business. First reported final week by Spanish digital outlet Crónica World, the Spanish OEM has reportedly entered proceedings after failing to barter a restructuring of its excellent money owed with creditor banks final 12 months.
Barcelona’s Business Courtroom No. 3 is processing BCN3D’s chapter case. Luis Jiménez-Asenjo Sotomayor has been appointed because the insolvency administrator by GS Insolvency Administration.
BCN3D provides a portfolio of business Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printers, together with its flagship Omega I60 IDEX and Epsilon Collection choices. In accordance with the report, annual revenues from 3D printer gross sales have stagnated at round €5 million, whereas losses since its 2018 formation have reached -€10 million.
In accordance with a supply acquainted with the matter, BCN3D has acquired a binding supply from a 3rd occasion to buy all the firm’s belongings. The proposal, now beneath assessment by formal authorized proceedings, consists of plans to proceed BCN3D’s operations and retain its whole workforce. The supply confirmed that the corporate stays operational and intends to remain that approach all through the chapter proceedings.
BCN3D recordsdata for chapter
Primarily based in Gavà, Barcelona, BCN3D funds its operations by a mixture of personal and public sources. Since its founding, it has raised €10 million from buyers, together with CDTI, Mondragón, Yaba, JME Ventures, Accurafy4, Danobat Group, and Victoria Enterprise.
The corporate’s backers reportedly injected €1.3 million in money in 2019, €4.2 million in 2020, and €5 million in 2022. €7 million has additionally been raised in public subsidies and grants from the Spanish Authorities and Catalonian Generalitat.
BCN3D raised its most up-to-date capital in November 2024 throughout what it described as a “pivotal funding spherical” backed by established Spanish companies from conventional industrial sectors. This capital injection sought to speed up progress within the mild industrial additive manufacturing sector and coincided with the corporate’s relocation to a brand new European manufacturing facility. Its new website was designed to scale operations and strengthen high quality management.
On the time, BCN3D’s CEO, Xavi M. Faneca, commented that the funding “marks a daring dedication to our future and alerts our readiness to take the lead within the mild industrial market.” Nonetheless, simply six months later, the way forward for BCN3D is unsure. BCN3D’s present belongings are mentioned to be round €10 million, whereas liabilities are reported at €7 million. Regardless of the obvious asset-liability surplus, sources recommend a scarcity of short-term liquidity and unresolved creditor negotiations pressured the submitting.
3D printing corporations face monetary challenges
BCN3D is the newest 3D printer producer to face monetary hardship. Earlier this 12 months, Massachusetts-based 3D printer producer Desktop Metallic initiated a strategic assessment following its acquisition by Nano Dimension. The transfer seeks to deal with the corporate’s monetary liabilities and liquidity challenges, together with $115 million in excellent convertible notes issued earlier than the acquisition.
This adopted a interval of economic challenges, throughout which CEO Ric Fulop warned that failing to safe an acquisition by Nano Dimension would quantity to a “deadly prognosis” for the corporate. As a part of the assessment, the binder jet 3D printer specialist appointed Robert Warshauer to its Board of Administrators (BoD). It additionally introduced on funding financial institution Piper Sandler & Co. and enterprise consultancy agency FTI Consulting as monetary advisers.
Elsewhere, it was revealed by 3D Printing Business in November 2024 that the German 3D printing supplies firm Ahead AM filed for insolvency. Filed within the Heidelberg District Courtroom on November twenty first, 2024, the insolvency adopted Ahead AM’s management carve-out from BASF. In an replace launched final week, it was introduced that main 3D printer producer Stratasys acquired Ahead AM’s belongings. The supplies firm will now function as an unbiased supplies model beneath a brand new authorized identify inside Stratasys.
Additionally in November 2024, 3D printing supplies producer KIMYA introduced it could stop filament manufacturing and exit the 3D printing market, ending gross sales of its high-performance FDM supplies. A former subsidiary of the ARMOR Group, KIMYA had acquired €15 million in funding since its launch in 2017. Writing on LinkedIn, Hubert de Boisredon, President and Director Basic of the ARMOR Group, attributed the choice to weak progress within the industrial market and the “financial disaster,” which resulted in a fall in 3D printer gross sales.
Addressing the Supernova rumors
In 2024, Supernova carved out BCN3D’s Viscous Lithography Manufacturing (VLM) enterprise unit to create a brand new firm that’s separate from BCN3D. Following hypothesis on social media, Supernova has issued an announcement refuting any monetary difficulties or hyperlinks to BCN3D’s latest chapter proceedings. “Supernova is a totally unbiased firm,” mentioned CBO and co-founder Marta Mico. “These claims are completely unfounded.”
Chatting with 3D Printing Business, Mico straight addressed different social media rumors. She refuted claims that Supernova has been pressured into redundancies amid monetary challenges. The corporate itself stays small, with a staff of 4 main protection functions in Austin and round 15 at Supernova’s Barcelona facility.
In accordance with the co-founder, as a younger startup, Supernova faces typical hiring challenges and expects so much from new staff. “Working at Supernova is just not for everybody; it’s a tough place to be,” Mico admitted. She emphasised that the primary month is crucial, and a few new hires don’t meet the corporate’s expectations. “If it doesn’t work out, we choose to fireplace quick reasonably than maintain somebody who isn’t delivering the worth we’d like,” she mentioned. Such statements will be seen to replicate a typical high-performance tradition amongst early-stage deep tech ventures reasonably than monetary misery. Claims {that a} key associate has exited Supernova had been additionally denied. “I do not know what that’s about,” mentioned Mico.
She additionally dismissed options that Supernova is struggling to commercialize its VLM merchandise. “The product hasn’t been commercialized but, as deliberate, so claiming we’re going through business points is solely inaccurate,” she defined. Mico added that Supernova has reached the Minimal Viable Product (MVP) stage and is now centered on industrialization. This effort, she famous, “will take a while,” with transport anticipated to start in 2026.
Concerning runway, Mico declined to touch upon Supernova’s fundraising actions and didn’t point out that the claims concerning bother on this space are correct. “I’m not sharing something on fundraising,” she mentioned. “We’ve by no means disclosed our funding sources, and we don’t intend to substantiate something now.”
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Featured picture exhibits BCN3D’s Headquarters. Photograph by way of BCN3D.
