Aniwaa formally announced a pivot into a B2B 3D printing marketplace.
The French company has been around for quite a few years, and began as a kind of compendium to make sense of the increasingly large and diverse set of 3D printers that were arriving one the market.
For many years the selection of 3D printer manufacturers was quite low, only a handful. However, after the expiration of certain patents in the mid 2000’s, countless companies emerged with their own takes on the technology, and that explosion of equipment continues to this day.
Aniwaa took on the task of keeping track of all those products by adding them to a now-vast online database of equipment, features, manufacturers and more. Their service was essential to more quickly narrow down product options, as there was no other centralized list of 3D printing equipment of such detail.
It is possible to, for example, generate a list of high temperature 3D printer with a specific build volume. Doing so by manual searches would be not only tedious, but very likely to miss out on some options.
Over time the folks at Aniwaa realized they had an opportunity to provide purchasing capability by linking to manufacturers directly, and in the process capitalizing their extensive database.
This meant the company evolved into more of a B2B marketplace, rather than just a reference database, and that’s what they company is formally declaring in their announcement. They explain:
“Aniwaa is proud to officially announce the release of its new website and brand identity, asserting its pivot to a B2B marketplace model. The company aims to radically simplify the AM buyer’s journey by building the first marketplace dedicated to AM solutions. With this launch, Aniwaa refines its one-stop shop approach to connecting professional buyers with AM suppliers, by offering comprehensive product catalogs, comparison tools, and informative content, all in a centralized and fully redesigned interface.”
The Aniwaa database was used by visitors as part of their research and overall purchasing processes. Aniwaa realized this was happening and sought to take on more of those processes by providing the connections to the suppliers in their new B2B model.
But it’s not quite as simple as that: Aniwaa has also had to tweak their online interface to facilitate the search process in the most optimal manner. Currently their search, which is front and center on the site, offer the ability to filter on these options for printers:
- Brand
- Topic
- Price
- Build volume
- Temperatures
- Technology
- Material
- Features
- And more
Using their interface is quite straightforward, and it’s pretty easy to rapidly locate matching results.
Aniwaa provides a valuable service to additive manufacturing professionals, who would otherwise spend inordinate amounts of time identifying suppliers, or be subject to the whims of their local resellers that push specific brands.
Via Aniwaa
