ICON has received a relatively large new investment only weeks after laying off staff.
ICON is a Texas-based manufacturer of a well-regarded 3DCP printer. Their equipment has been used to form the concrete portions of many buildings, including several residential developments. The company has had several high-profile neighborhood-building projects over the past couple of years.
The company has attracted very significant investment in the past, raising over US$450M from investors. This almost certainly makes ICON one of the top-invested 3D print companies on the planet. Although they are not publicly traded, it’s estimated that their company’s value has neared US$2B.
And then there were layoffs. Only weeks ago, a WARN notice appeared on the Texas Workforce Commission website stating that ICON would be laying off a huge 114 people on March 8th.
At the time, I reached out to my contact at ICON and discovered they were no longer at the company.
Today, a story on TechCrunch describes a new investment in ICON in the amount of US$56M, with up to US$75M possible in the future.
The Series C investment comes from Northwest Venture Partners and Tiger Global, along with a number of existing investors, according to TechCrunch.
This is quite interesting, as it would at first glance seem strange for investors to pour money into a company that’s laying off staff.
On the other hand, it may be that the existing investors are concerned about their prior investment and still believe in a strong future for ICON. If the company has been laying off staff, then perhaps they need some cash to hold things together until they get to the next level.
We don’t exactly know what that next level could be, as ICON has issued no public statements about either the new investment nor the layoff announcement, but TechCrunch wrote:
“ICON plans to use its new capital mostly to ‘fuel the development of’ Phoenix, its line of multi-story 3D printers so that it can “begin putting the robotic technology into the hands of builders.” The new robotic printer, the spokesperson said, allows for multi-story construction using a new low-carbon building material.”
If that is the case, then that could open up more market space for ICON. Their current system has largely been used for one-story residential construction, and the ability to build larger structures means more projects are possible.
An open question about the layoffs still remains: will the layoffs still take place? There is evidence of staff already having left, but the WARN notice stated layoffs were to take place on March 8th. Would the new investment allow ICON to keep at least some of these people? Or call some back to work at the company?
We won’t know the answers to any of this until there are announcements from ICON. However, for the time being, it seems to be good news for the company.
Via TechCrunch
