Sounds like an acqhire to me.
Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot
11–20 of 41 posts
Re: Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot
#12Is there an expert here that can explain this valuation? They only sold 22k 3D printer and they don't really innovate agains't open-source 3D printer.
Sorry, I'm no expert but it seems there's a huge future and a heck of a lot of excitement around 3D printing. Supposedly they've sold 22,000 printers and a deal for $403 million is the equivalent of $18k per unit sold. Given units sell for about $2k, this seems to be a deal focusing heavily on the technology, future and potential rather than the business fundamentals (but, as always, a disclaimer.. I could be wrong ;…
It must be for the brand, because Stratasys already has the technology to make 3D printers. It's also defensive, because it's an all stock deal, so the acquired team has to stay at Stratasys for a while (and not be/work for the competition) to make this worth their while.
edit: actually I forgot to do the math. if they sold $44M of stuff already, 10x that for an obviously growing business is a pretty typical exit
Re: Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot
#13What sort of IP does MakerBot have? Its a reprap (fully opensource) that needs slightly-less-constant maintenance, and they've iterated on the extruder about 10 times. There's also some software.
If $400,000,000 (possibly $600,000,000) isn't a big enough budget to develop a low end 3D printer, what are the development budgets of their industrial grade printers?
Re: Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot
#14Is there an expert here that can explain this valuation? They only sold 22k 3D printer and they don't really innovate agains't open-source 3D printer.
They sold $22MM worth of 3D printers in the last 9 months (3 quarters) - nearly matching their revenue over the previous 3 years, are a household name in the industry, and led by a "rockstar" in the 3d printing world.
So, sounds a lot like "hockeystick" and "hot property" in the software world, no?
Re: Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot
#15Has anyone heard if they will take the tech back towards open or move in a closed direction? I don't know much about Statasys but I'm guessing they are a closed company and their machines aren't open sourced?
Some discussion about that here, but no speculation http://fabbaloo.com/blog/2013/6/19/breaking-stratasys-acquir...
Re: Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry, I'm no expert but it seems there's a huge future and a heck of a lot of excitement around 3D printing. Supposedly they've sold 22,000 printers and a deal for $403 million is the equivalent of $18k per unit sold. Given units sell for about $2k, this seems to be a deal focusing heavily on the technology, future and potential rather than the business fundamentals (but, as always, a disclaimer.. I could be wrong ;…
It must be for the brand, because Stratasys already has the technology to make 3D printers. It's also defensive, because it's an all stock deal, so the acquired team has to stay at Stratasys for a while (and not be/work for the competition) to make this worth their while. edit: actually I forgot to do the math. if they sold $44M of stuff already, 10x that for an obviously growing business is a pretty typical exit
Consider also, that Stratasys had no answer to their biggest competitor's (3DSystems) consumer line that's been going gangbusters (Cubify).
I can imagine a world where $403M worth of stock is a good trade for a well-known name, a product line with a large customer base, and profitable consumer sub-unit to compete your biggest competitor, who has the same when you don't.
Re: Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot
#17What sort of IP does MakerBot have? Its a reprap (fully opensource) that needs slightly-less-constant maintenance, and they've iterated on the extruder about 10 times. There's also some software. If $400,000,000 (possibly $600,000,000) isn't a big enough budget to develop a low end 3D printer, what are the development budgets of their industrial grade printers?
IP isn't the only kind of value. MakerBot has a pouplar hardware product in active production, which represents a pretty big investment that can't be easily reproduced (or Stratasys, which makes its own hardware, would probably done so). They have a very strong brand, including the Thingiverse site. These are things that drive Replicator sales in the future. And Stratasys (correctly) views them as someone they'd rather acquire now than in three years.
That said: yes, the MakerBot really is just a refined RepRap. There's not much really of unique value there, technologically, beyond the aforementioned high expense of "refining" a hardware product.
Re: Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot
#18What sort of IP does MakerBot have? Its a reprap (fully opensource) that needs slightly-less-constant maintenance, and they've iterated on the extruder about 10 times. There's also some software. If $400,000,000 (possibly $600,000,000) isn't a big enough budget to develop a low end 3D printer, what are the development budgets of their industrial grade printers?
They are also getting the branding and employees, which I would imagine are where most of the worth is.
Also, the MakerBot Replicator 2, which has sold more units than all previous models combined, is mostly not at all opensource.
Re: Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot
#19Staples is selling a 3d printer.
My guess is that Stratasys needs something on the low end, and quickly to insure that they still exist in a few years.
Re: Stratasys Acquiring MakerBot
#20Is there an expert here that can explain this valuation? They only sold 22k 3D printer and they don't really innovate agains't open-source 3D printer.
They sold for about a 10x multiple of annual revenue. That's not atypical for a startup that's growing quickly.