MatterFab
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
MatterFab was a 3D metal-printer startup founded in 2013 by Matt Burris and Dave Warren. It promised a laser powder-bed-fusion metal 3D printer at roughly a tenth of the price of incumbent machines, opening metal additive manufacturing to smaller manufacturers. The company raised over $13 million from investors including GE and Autodesk ($7.48 million in February 2015 and $5.75 million in May 2015). Both founders left within two years, the company burned cash fast, and its remaining assets - including the T4 printer - were eventually sold at auction.
02 / MatterFab FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
MatterFab died from founder departures and unmanageable cash burn. Co-founder Matt Burris left in October 2015 and Dave Warren followed in March 2016, with investors pushing for a more experienced management team; the replacement CTO himself left in March 2017. Meanwhile the company burned through its $13 million at a rate of over half a million dollars a month in 2016 alone, and GE - an early investor - was buying established metal-printing companies instead. The printer never succeeded in the marketplace, and the company's assets went up for auction.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Matt Burris and Dave Warren founded MatterFab to build an affordable 3D metal printer.
- Funding peak
MatterFab raised $7.48 million in February and $5.75 million in May 2015 from investors including GE and Autodesk; co-founder Burris left in October 2015.
- Founder exits
Co-founder and CTO Dave Warren left in March 2016; the company burned over $500,000 a month that year.
- Shutdown
MatterFab shut down after raising three funding rounds; its remaining assets, including the T4 metal 3D printer, were sold at auction.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Founded 2013 by Matt Burris and Dave Warren; affordable laser powder-bed-fusion metal 3D printers.
- 02
2015: raised $7.48M (Feb) and $5.75M (May); investors included GE and Autodesk.
- 03
Co-founder Burris left October 2015; co-founder Warren left March 2016; replacement CTO left March 2017.
- 04
2016: cash burn over $500,000 per month; product never succeeded in the marketplace.
- 05
Assets auctioned, including the MatterFab T4 metal 3D printer (lot 66A).
- 06
No reliable loss figure disclosed; funding and burn estimates are not recorded as losses.