3D Hubs CEO speaks to 3DPI about acquisition of Printivate and the future of 3D printing

We asked 3D Hubs CEO & co-founder, Bram de Zwart, for his thoughts about today’s news that 3D Hubs has bought 3D optimization company Printivate and what the next steps for the company might be.
“So the 3D printing ordering process has always been a very cumbersome process. I’ve tried the old fashioned way, through email, and it typically took me 2 days and about 10 emails to get to the production step. So being an online platform is about making the process a simpler and a lot easier,” de Zwart tells me.
While some companies are making steps in this direction de Zwart says, “it was always very hard for a customer to check if a file was printable. That’s why we made the acquisition because we are in a unique position to lead”
I asked the CEO how the two businesses will be integrated, and whether Printivate will be rebranded as 3D Hubs.
“Printivate with become part of 3D Hubs and that means all the intellectual property they have developed and their founder and CEO (Adrian Muresan) will all become part of our team.” The intention is to integrate the Printivate and simplify the online ordering process by optimizing files for 3D printing.
De Zwart confirmed that 3D Hubs have spent a while looking at the market for a company that would make sense as a strategic acquisition.
“We’ve looked at different options there, and we found that Adrian is a really smart guy and has built amazing technology. So we felt Printivate were the best candidate to become a part of 3D Hubs.”

Printability features

The integration of Printivate into 3D Hubs will take place over, “multiple months and once what [Adrian] has built over the past couple of years is integrated he will continue to work as our R&D lead and continue ...



SOURCE: 3dprintingindustry.com ( go on reading...)