DANOBATGROUP INVESTS IN THE BCN3D STARTUP IN ORDER TO DIVERSIFY ITS TECHNOLOGICAL OFFER

With the aim of continuing to diversify its technological offer and explore new innovative solutions to anticipate the demands of the industry, DANOBATGROUP, together with the Mondragon Corporation, has acquired a stake in the equity in the start-up specialising in additive manufacturing technology BCN3D.

This operation makes the Danobatgroup and Mondragon Corporation the leading companies in the financing round, which has raised a total of 2.8 million euros for the Catalan firm, a figure that places it among the top 10 investments of this kind in Spain so far this year.

The partnership with BCN3D underpins DANOBATGROUP´s commitment to innovation, which takes the form of surveillance and analysis of technological trends with the aim of identifying new business opportunities, anticipating the challenges of the future and reinforcing its position as a benchmark in R&D applied to machine tools and industrial manufacturing.

In the operation, the Promotion Centre of the Mondragon Corporation is participating through its venture capital fund for investment in start-ups, specifically conceived for supporting partner cooperatives to tackle new challenges, evolve in line with the transformations and enhance their market positioning.

“This operation responds to our strategy of seeking opportunities for diversification in the area of manufacturing technologies framed with a global process for analysing the evolution of additive manufacturing technologies. Within this strategy, we have committed to acquiring an interest in BCN3D, a successful start-up that stands out in its area of specialisation: polymer additive manufacturing processes”, says the group’s innovation director, Nerea Aranguren.

Design and manufacture of 3D printers

More specifically, the Catalan company, created within the scope of the CIM foundation, the additive manufacturing research centre of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, designs and manufactures 3-D desktop printers based on Fusion Deposition Modelling (FDM) or Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) technology, an additive manufacturing method that deposits thermoplastic material layer by layer to construct parts and components.

The technology used on the BCN3D printers allows strong, durable and dimensionally stable objects to be manufactured with great accuracy for strategic sectors such as automotives, aeronautics, electronics, engineering and product design, among others.

The company has stood out for its social commitment during the covid pandemic with the "3D Printing to Live" initiative, a project that has allowed the Catalan firm to design, produce and distribute reusable protective visors that have been adopted by a wide range of health professionals in more than 50 medical centres throughout Europe.

Among BCN3D’s customers are companies such as BMW, Siemens, Samsung, General Electric, Nissan, the American space agency NASA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Within the framework of this collaboration, also envisaged is a definition of an R&D plan, realised through the IDEKO research centre, the driving force of innovation of the DANOBATGROUP, to explore the use of FFF technology in metal solutions, and not just polymers.