London, 22 October 2019: Foresight Group LLP (“Foresight”) has made its thirteenth investment from the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund (“the Fund”) into Additive Manufacturing Technologies Limited (“AMT” or “the Company”), a developer of technology designed to unlock the potential of industrial additive manufacturing (“3D printing” or “AM”). The investment is part of a £4.2 million round led by DSM Venturing.
Sheffield-based AMT was founded in 2017 by CEO Joseph Crabtree. It was set up with the aim of developing industrial technologies to enable the deployment of 3D printing for mass production, especially to address the shortcomings of existing post-processing technologies.
AMT’s first product, PostPro3D, is based on the BLAST (Boundary Layer Automated Smoothing Technology) process that was initially developed at the University of Sheffield. Since launch, the Company has secured contracts with several blue-chip companies.
The global 3D printing market is in a period of rapid international expansion and is expected to grow to $24 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate of more than 16.5%. AMT is well-placed to capitalise on this expansion with its innovative product offering comprising four technologies: depowdering, smoothing, colouring and inspection/metrology. Together, these technologies can be combined to offer a fully automated end-to-end post-processing solution.
The investment will be used to accelerate sales and deliver a commercial version of its fully integrated Digital Manufacturing System. The expansion will also allow the Company to better serve its ever-growing pipeline of prospective customers.
Commenting on the investment, Andrew Bloxam, Senior Investment Manager at Foresight, said: “AMT has been quietly executing at an incredible pace since launching three years ago and is now delivering exceptional products that solve real-world industrial additive manufacturing needs. Joseph and his team are focused on continued product innovation and we believe the best is yet to come for AMT and its customers.”
Matthew Burke, Head of Technology Ventures, Williams Advanced Engineering, added: “Additive manufacturing is a key part of our Formula One and Advanced Engineering operations and we are looking forward to working with AMT to maximise the potential of their post-processing technologies.”
Joseph Crabtree, CEO of AMT, commented: “We are delighted to announce our Series A funding round with DSM Venturing and Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund. The investment places AMT in pole position to be able to complete the polymer to part ecosystem and unlock industrial additive manufacturing at scale.
DSM’s materials expertise and application knowledge combined with Williams Advanced Engineering’s Formula One derived engineering provenance, add significant value to AMT and our customer value proposition.
The investment affirms the unrelenting hard work and commitment AMT has channelled into developing technology solutions for automating the additive manufacturing post-processing chain and we look forward to scaling AMT into the world leader in automated post-processing technology.”
ENDS
For further information contact:
Amy Smith, Communications Executive, Foresight Group asmith@foresightgroup.eu/020 3763 6978
NOTES FOR EDITORS
About Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund
Foresight and Williams announced the unique collaboration represented by the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund in November 2016. It combines the Williams Advanced Engineering team’s expertise with Foresight’s successful investment track record.
The Fund enables investors to qualify for relief under the UK Government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (“EIS”) for investment into early stage UK SMEs with strong intellectual property in their own specialist fields.
The Fund plans to make investments of up to £3 million into at least ten qualifying UK SMEs per investor, supporting the next generation of engineering technology success stories in the UK.
http://www.foresightwilliams.co.uk/
About Foresight Group LLP (“Foresight”):
Foresight is a leading independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager which has been managing investment funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients for more than 35 years.
Foresight has c. £4 billion of Assets Under Management across a number of funds, including Listed Vehicles, Limited Partnerships, Enterprise Investment Schemes (EISs), Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and Inheritance Tax Solutions using Business Property Relief (BPR).
Foresight’s Private Equity team, comprising 26 investment professionals, pursues four discrete but complementary investment styles: Venture, Impact, Growth and Replacement Capital through its growing regional office network.
Foresight was recently named Fund Manager of the Year at the PLC Awards. Foresight was awarded ‘Generalist VCT of the Year’ at the Investment Week Tax Efficiency Awards 2018/19 and was a finalist in the 2018 Unquote British Private Equity Awards as Venture and Growth Capital House of the Year. In 2017, Foresight was voted ‘Best VCT Investment Manager’ at the Growth Investor Awards, having been previously awarded ‘VCT House of the Year’ at the 2016 Unquote British Private Equity awards.
Foresight is headquartered in London with regional UK offices in Manchester, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Leicester, Edinburgh and Guernsey and international offices in Sydney, Rome, Madrid and Seoul.
About Williams Advanced Engineering
Williams Advanced Engineering Limited operates a technology and engineering services business and is part of the Williams Group.
In 2010, Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited began diversifying its operations, leading to the establishment of the Williams Advanced Engineering division, which has now become Williams Advanced Engineering Limited. Combining cutting edge technology and the industry’s best engineers with precision and speed to market derived from four decades of success in the ultra-competitive environment of Formula One, Williams Advanced Engineering provides world class technical innovation, engineering, testing, manufacturing and operational consultancy services to the automotive, motorsport, aerospace, defence, health and energy sectors. Working in close collaboration with its customers, Williams Advanced Engineering helps meet the sustainability challenges of the 21st century and improve performance, with its expertise in aerodynamics and thermodynamics, electrification, advanced lightweight materials, simulation and vehicle integration. The Company was honoured with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation 2018.
For more information see www.wae.com, follow on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
