Long-time 3D model repository Cults has reached several significant milestones.

The France-based service, founded in 2014, provides a platform for designers to post their 3D models for public distribution, either free of charge or for a small fee. It’s one of the few large-scale 3D model repositories specializing in printable objects.

During their four years of existence, it now seems that Cults has been growing steadily all that time. Information received from co-founder Hugo Fromont touts some interesting statistics and milestones.

Fromont says that Cults has now reached a staggering 300,000 registered users, likely encompassing nearly every desktop 3D printer operator worldwide.

They’ve also reached the incredible milestone of placing third in the world of printable 3D model repositories. Fromont explains:

“Cults is the 1st independent 3D files marketplace platform (we do not belong to a group or a company) and the 3rd worldwide among the sector’s specialists. We’re behind Thingiverse (Makerbot) and MyMiniFactory (iMakr), ahead of Pinshape (Formlabs) and Youmagine (Ultimaker).”

This is an incredible achievement, as the other major players have all had significant subsidy or marketing from their respective owners. In fact, Pinshape actually declared themselves gone and were rescued by Formlabs at the last possible moment.

Countless other smaller printable 3D model repositories exist, and an even larger number have started and failed. The business of attracting designers while simultaneously attracting buyers/downloaders is quite challenging, as it is the classic chicken and egg scenario. Many smaller players simply don’t get through that barrier, but Cults has done so.

Fromont explains other milestones they’ve recently achieved:

• We are welcoming more than 700 new users every day and more than 5.000 new members every week.

• The platform is hosting for now 33.000 designs and a community of 3.500 designers specialized in 3D printing.

• Per day our platform is visited more than 15.000 times and we have an audience of 425.000 visits per month.

• The home page is seen 550.000 times per month.

• We have 3 million page views per month.

• It is translated in 3 languages: English, French, Spanish.

• The geographical distribution is: 50% Europe – 36% Americas – 10% Asia – 4% Others.

• The community on social networks is worth: 8,000 fans on Facebook – 23,000 subscribers on Instagram – 3,000 followers on Twitter – 3,000 subscribers on Pinterest.

We’re very pleased to see Cults succeeding in this way, particularly when they are entirely independent of other corporate support.

But their milestones also indicate the challenge facing any new entrant to this market. It’s now quite crowded with several players hosting in total millions of 3D models. I propose it is now effectively impossible to enter the market. So if you are considering doing so, perhaps think of something else to pursue.

Via Cults