
Formlabs Inc.
Private Somerville 3D printing company founded by MIT students in 2011, profitable with over $250 million in revenue and a $2 billion valuation.
Company Type
private
Founded
2011
Headquarters
Somerville, Massachusetts, USA
Revenue
Over $250 million (2025)
Employees
Approximately 750
Primary Market
Global
About Formlabs Inc.
Is Formlabs publicly traded?
No. Formlabs Inc. is a private company valued at approximately $2 billion. CEO Maxim Lobovsky has consistently described an IPO as a distraction from the company's product mission.
When was Formlabs founded?
Maxim Lobovsky, David Cranor, and Natan Linder founded the company in September 2011 as MIT Media Lab students. Its first product, the Form 1, launched via a 2012 Kickstarter that raised nearly $3 million.
Who owns Formlabs?
Ownership is split among the three co-founders, employees, and venture investors including SoftBank Vision Fund 2, NEA, DFJ Growth, and Foundry Group. No single shareholder controls the company.
What is Formlabs' annual revenue?
The company reported more than $250 million in 2025 revenue, with over half coming from recurring materials sales. It has been profitable for more than two consecutive years.
Where is Formlabs headquartered?
Formlabs Inc. is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA, near the MIT campus where it was founded. Manufacturing operates in the United States and Hungary.
What products does Formlabs make?
The company makes Form series stereolithography printers, Fuse series selective laser sintering printers, proprietary resins and powders, PreForm software, and post-processing equipment including washers, curing stations, and powder handling systems.
History of Formlabs Inc.
The company started in 2011 inside the MIT Media Lab, where Lobovsky, Cranor, and Linder saw that industrial stereolithography machines costing $100,000-plus kept precision resin printing out of reach for most of the market. They incorporated in September 2011 and went to Kickstarter.
The Form 1 campaign raised nearly $3 million in late 2012, one of the largest hardware crowdfunding results to that point, and the printer shipped in 2013 at around $3,300. A patent infringement lawsuit from 3D Systems arrived almost immediately, settling in 2014 on undisclosed terms and clearing the way for the company to scale.
The Form 2 (2015) established the company's reputation for reliability and made the Form line standard equipment in dental and engineering workflows worldwide. The materials library expanded continuously, adding dental, medical, engineering, jewelry, and casting resins that turned printer sales into recurring consumable revenue.
Funding rounds built on the traction: New Enterprise Associates, DFJ Growth, and Foundry Group led successive raises, and an August 2018 round valued the company above $1 billion and brought former GE CEO Jeff Immelt onto the board. The May 2021 Series E, a $150 million round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, valued Formlabs at $2 billion.
The Fuse 1 selective laser sintering printer launched in 2021 after a long development cycle, bringing nylon powder printing to the desktop at a fraction of industrial system pricing. The Fuse 1+ 30W upgrade followed, and in June 2026 the company launched the Fuse X1, a large-format SLS system starting at $84,999 targeting industrial production volumes.
By mid-2026 the company had confirmed more than $250 million in 2025 revenue, two-plus years of profitability, and leadership of the professional price-class segment, a financial profile nearly unique in additive manufacturing, where most competitors run losses or were absorbed after failed public listings.
Formlabs Inc. Sustainability & Ethics
The company frames additive manufacturing as intrinsically less wasteful than subtractive production, generating parts with minimal scrap. It maintains material safety documentation, offers cartridge recycling programs in several markets, and participates in industry sustainability discussions, though it holds no B Corp certification or independent environmental credentials.
Awards & Recognition
Formlabs products have earned CES Innovation Awards, Red Dot and iF design honors, and repeated best-in-category rankings from All3DP, Tom's Hardware, and additive manufacturing trade press. The company has appeared in Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies lists and MIT Technology Review coverage. Its Kickstarter campaign remains a canonical case study in hardware crowdfunding.
Controversy, Regulation & Public Scrutiny
The 3D Systems patent lawsuit of 2013 was the company's defining legal event, settling in 2014 without blocking its trajectory. Resin safety is a recurring category-wide topic: photopolymer resins require protective handling, and the company publishes handling guidance across its materials library.
The company has avoided the regulatory and financial controversies that hit peers, having declined SPAC listing and maintained private status through the additive manufacturing market correction that damaged several publicly traded rivals.
Brands Owned by Formlabs Inc.
Formlabs Inc. owns 1 brand in our database. Explore the ownership tree below — click categories to expand and see individual brands.
Formlabs Inc.
private · Founded 2011 · Somerville, Massachusetts, USA
1
brands
Formlabs Inc. Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Rare profitable model in additive manufacturing with 10 percent free cash flow
- +Recurring materials revenue exceeding half of total sales
- +Leading market share in the professional price class at 38 percent
- +Founder control and patient venture backing allow long product development
Considerations
- -Venture expectations for a $2 billion valuation create eventual exit pressure
- -Chinese competitors pressure pricing at the professional segment's lower edge
- -Closed materials ecosystem risks resistance as open-material platforms gain
- -Private status restricts capital available for competing with industrial giants





