Well, if it isn’t yet another 3D printer company acquisition: Markforged has been acquired by Nano Dimension.
Terms of the proposed deal were as follows. Nano Dimension will purchase all outstanding shares of Markforged at a price of US$5.00 each, yielding a total value of the transaction at US$115M. Nano Dimension is using cash from their reserve and not exchanging stocks or other maneuvers. It’s a straight-up purchase. The deal is expected to close in early 2025.
The effects of Markforged were immediate. The company’s share price has been depressed for months, most recently hovering in the US$2-3 range after a steady decline. The share price dipped below US$1, causing Markforged to undergo a reverse stock split to avoid delisting.
Investors quickly realized something was happening and jumped on the stock, pushing the value up to nearly US$5.00 after the announcement. Easy money: buy at US$2.50, sell to Nano Dimension later for US$5.00.
This move concludes the Markforged saga, which has been in financial difficulties for some time. In addition to their declining valuation, the company recently suffered a substantial legal penalty when they were found guilty of patent infringement. The penalty amounted to a total payment of US$25M to Continuous Composites.
Along with Markforged comes their acquisitions. These include the very interesting Digital Metal technology for 3D printing tiny detailed metal objects, and Teton Simulation, which provides intelligent slicing capabilities.
For Nano Dimension, this is a continuation of their use of a large cash hoard. Previously they acquired Desktop Metal, DeepCube and Admatec, along with some others. Desktop Metal holds technology from a number of their own previous acquisitions. Nano Dimension now has quite a range of 3D print technology, and we’re going to have to investigate this more deeply in a future story.
With this acquisition, Markforged’s revenues — and expenses — will combine with Nano Dimension’s financials. That will make Nano Dimension a larger company, and they may move up a few notches on our weekly leaderboard. They’ve been trailing Stratasys for some time, but this move just might put them over.
However, investors have been devaluing Nano Dimension for years, with the company being somehow valued at less than the amount of cash held in the company. It remains to be seen how this will play out with investors. It could be that the series of recent acquisitions could change the sentiment towards the company. Or not.
What’s next for Nano Dimension? They still have substantial cash remaining in their reserve, sufficient to acquire even more struggling companies.
One possibility is an acquisition of Velo3D, which has recently struggled with valuation and was actually delisted from the NYSE. The current valuation of Velo3D is only US$6M, so it would be an easy purchase for Nano Dimension if they wanted to add metal LPBF technology to their now vast collection of 3D print technologies.
Via Markforged and Nano Dimension
