A startup investor’s guide to the 3D printing industry

Last week, my neighbor told me about his new business idea. He was planning on buying a 3D printer and renting it out to people who were interested in using the product – sort of like a FedEx Office (‘Kinkos’) for 3D printing. Although he had some hesitations about the traction of that business in Beit Shemesh (a Jerusalem suburb), he still thought that it would take off in the near future. Size of 3D printer market Kenneth Wong, an analyst at Citigroup could not agree more. He predicts that the market for 3D printing will triple to $6Bn by 2018. A big player in the field of CAD/CAM, Stratasys, predicts it can increase revenues 25% by the end of the fiscal year. 3D Systems, another giant in the arena, had an increase of 53% in revenues from 2011 to 2012. Analysts accredit this to the fact that 3D printing companies want to break through the prototyping stage and start addressing the general consumer end of the market. What is 3D printing? What exactly is 3D printing? 3D printing...

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