Why Carbon just raised another $260 million

Two months ago, we reported that Carbon was set to raise up to $300 million, bringing the 3D printing company's valuation up to a lofty $2.5 billion. The real numbers released this week by the company aren't quite so lofty, but are impressive nonetheless. The Series E fetched $260 million, putting its valuation at closer to $2.4 billion.

The latest round follows a $200 million Series D that arrived in late-2017, bringing the company's total raise to $680 million. What exactly is the bay area-based startup planning to do with that massive sum, in the wake of high profile manufacturing partnerships with companies like Adidas and Riddell?

CEO/co-founder Joseph M. DeSimone and recent addition CMO Dara Treseder (most recently of GE Ventures) stopped by our offices to discuss what the latest round means for the Bay Area-based company.

Asked for a timeline around when Carbon might exit, DeSimon offered a non-committal answer. "As we grow our business, we haven't made announcements for our IPO or anything like that yet," he told TechCrunch. But the revenue business is growing nicely. So we're in pretty good shape."

It's hard to say precisely what goals the company is hoping to attain before going public, but at the very least, Carbon presents a good indicator that the 3D printing industry is back on the uptick - in some circles, at least.