Lafayette additive manufacturer secures $2 million in financing to expand

LAFAYETTE — A Lafayette manufacturer of 3D metals has closed on a $2 million financing round that will propel the company’s expansion.

Fortius Metals Inc., a spinoff of Erie-based Elementum 3D Inc., reported this morning that it has closed on a priced seed financing round with AM Ventures. The $2 million round will be used to scale manufacturing capacity, grow the company and accelerate its go-to-market  strategy, the company said in a press release.

Fortius Metals is a large format additive manufacturing company that specializes in advanced materials to help customers develop solutions previously not possible with robotic 3D printing. Fortius Metals’ patented technology will enable welding and 3D wire fabrication using high performance metal alloys  to meet the demands of aerospace customers and robotic welding fabricators. 

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AM Ventures, the venture capital firm for the additive manufacturing sector, focuses solely on  startups built around industrial-grade 3D printing offerings, including hardware, software, materials, and  applications. AM Ventures’ portfolio includes a group of 17 companies engaged in 3D printing, out of more than 2,400 start-ups evaluated.

CEO Jeff Lints told BizWest that the company offers an unusual mix of work. “Half of the factory is involved in making wire, and half is involved in robotic 3D printing,” he said.

Unlike other wire manufacturers, Fortius doesn’t melt metal to make its product. Instead, it creates the wire using additive manufacturing technologies.

Lints said that the company is first targeting the aerospace industry, in part because of the wide range of companies in that sector in the region. NASA is a company client; Lints would not disclose other aerospace companies on its customer list because of proprietary concerns.

“Roughly half of all rocket engines are 3D printed today,” Lints told Company Week. 

The company’s wire used in welding produces a lighter weight, stronger product, which Lint said would likely appeal to the company’s second target: the automotive industry, which is rapidly producing electric vehicles that would benefit from being lighter.

The new association that Fortius will have with AM Ventures, a European entity, will help the company expand its customer base into the European market.

“We are looking forward to supplying customers who are already requesting our proprietary 6061  aluminum welding wire that solves traditional ‘hot cracking’ problems,” Lints said. “We are proud to be a Colorado company along with many of our space and aircraft customers.” The company employed six people until Monday, when it made job offers to two more. The new funding will enable it to continue hiring. The company has an 8,000 square-foot facility in Lafayette.

“We strongly believe that large scale additive manufacturing has massive potential. But until we spoke  to Fortius we had not seen an investment opportunity that could accelerate adoption” said Philip  Schultheiss, senior associate at AM Ventures. “Jeffrey and his talented team are developing not only a  way of making high strength metals readily available for large scale printing and traditional welding but also increasing their mechanical properties. An investment was just logical,”  Schultheiss said.

Elementum 3D had already patented and commercialized the technology for powder bed fusion additive manufacturing. Fortius was formed to develop nanostructured metal alloy wires for use in robotic additive manufacturing applications — representing new markets and new products, the company said in a press statement. The company’s vision is to use advanced materials technology to re-shore the metal manufacturing supply chain while supporting jobs in American factories.