3D printing marketplace Shapeways set for SPAC

Shapeways this morning confirmed earlier reports that it has entered into a deal to go public via SPAC. The model, which has become increasingly popular among tech companies in the past year, has already been taking up by a number of fellow 3D printing companies, including Markforged and Desktop Metal.

Our vision to enable anyone to rapidly transform digital designs to physical products is reaching a significant milestone today as we transition Shapeways into a public company," CEO Greg Kress said in a release tied to the news. We have been successfully executing on our vision, and this capital will allow us to empower digital manufacturing at scale, accelerating Shapeways' additive manufacturing capabilities while expanding the Company's material and technology offerings to more markets and industries."

Founded back in 2007, the New York-based company (with Dutch roots) offers 3D printing as a service. Specifically, it lets users outsource the printing of 3D printing objects to its own army of industrial units. Included in its services is a marketplace where users can buy and sell 3D printed objects.

The company, which has raised north of $107 million per Crunchbase, will enter into a reverse merge with blank firm, Galileo Acquisition Corp. The deal would value Shapeways at $410 million and provide upwards of $195 million in proceeds. The money will go toward, accelerat[ing] Shapeways' metal additive manufacturing capabilities, expand[ind] the company's material and technology offerings to extend market reach and grow customer share of wallet as well as to provid[ing] additional working capital."

The deal, which is subject to the standard regulatory scrutiny, would list the company as SHPW" in the NYSE. It's expected to close this summer.

Metal 3D printing company Markforged announces plans to go public via SPAC