Xometry, which brands itself as the largest marketplace for on-demand manufacturing, announced Dec. 3 that it has acquired Munich, Germany-based Shift, which Xometry says is the largest on-demand manufacturing marketplace in Europe.
Through the addition, Xometry will boost its international expansion into 12 countries, leveraging a global network of more than 4,000 manufacturers.
“Global expansion is a key step for us,” Xometry CEO Randy Altschuler said. “Many of our customers, like BMW and Bosch, have a global presence and we can serve more of their needs with a global network. Our AI-driven algorithms and intelligent sourcing platform give us a competitive advantage as we expand across new geographies and manufacturing technologies.”
Xometry says Shift has a customer base that includes some of Europe’s leading manufacturing companies. It will operate as Xometry Europe and continue to be headquartered in Munich.
“We are thrilled to join the Xometry team,” said Albert Belousov, Shift co-founder and Managing Director of Xometry Europe. “Our customers and suppliers will benefit from us joining forces with Xometry.”
Xometry has raised $118 million since it was founded in 2013. Over the past two years, the company has grown from 100 employees to over 300 while more than doubling revenue each year. The addition of Shift follows Xometry’s 2018 acquisition of fellow on-demand manufacturing provider MakeTime.
Through its network of manufacturers, Xometry’s capabilities include CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, direct metal laser sintering, selective laser sintering, fused deposition modeling, HP multi-jet fusion, PolyJet 3D, die casting, metal stamping, extrusion, urethane casting, and injection molding.
Shift’s lead investors include Cherry Ventures, which will become investors in Xometry.
“The custom manufacturing industry is a massive global market of over $100 billion,” Cherry Ventures founding partner Christian Meeremann said. “We’re excited for Shift to utilize Xometry’s industry-leading technology as well as leverage the global manufacturing expertise from other Xometry investors, including BMW i Ventures and Robert Bosch Venture Capital.”
“We’re eager to leverage Xometry’s technology to continue to scale our business in Europe,” echoed Shift co-founder and Xometry Europe managing director Dmitry Kafidov. “We look forward to providing our customers [with] additional manufacturing capabilities, including additive manufacturing and injection molding.”
