Voodoo Manufacturing
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Voodoo Manufacturing operated a New York 3D-printing service using a fleet of printers to manufacture batches of parts.
02 / Voodoo Manufacturing FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
A trade report relaying the company’s announcement linked closure to the COVID-19 pandemic: ordinary production declined, and a switch to face shields did not provide a basis for continuing while the duration of the disruption remained uncertain.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Former MakerBot employees found Voodoo Manufacturing in Brooklyn, New York, in June 2015, clustering desktop 3D printers to offer high-volume, low-cost 3D printing services.
- Scale-up
The print farm grows to 200 printers; the company raises a final $1.5 million seed round at a $10 million valuation and develops the Voodoo Operating System to manage production. Clients include IHOP and HBO.
- Automation and aligners
Voodoo integrates collaborative robots to automate print removal and launches a B2B clear-aligner service powered by more than 20 Formlabs printers.
- COVID pivot and closure
As the pandemic hits, Voodoo repurposes its factories to produce PPE, distributing more than 15,000 face shields across the U.S. In August 2020 the company permanently closes its doors, citing the pandemic, after raising $6.7 million in total funding.
- Assets acquired
In March 2021, Atlanta-based 3D Printing Tech purchases Voodoo's assets to build one of the largest FDM print farms in the U.S.
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
Pandemic reduced ordinary production demand
- 02
Face-shield production did not resolve uncertainty
- 03
Company announced closure