High-precision 3D Printing Firm Boston Micro Closes on $24 Million Series D

John Kawola

Boston Micro Fabrication, which develops high-precision micro 3D printers, has raised $24 million in a Series D round led by China’s Guotai Junan Securities. It has so far raised $79.3 million.

“Miniaturization, precision, and complexity of devices are the major trends in industrial development,” said BMF co-founder and CEO Xiaoning He. “BMF’s technology can play an essential role in meeting this need. With the continued support of our investors, we will continue to empower and incubate products in related application fields and collaborate extensively with our partners to advance micro-scale additive manufacturing.”

Highest Precision

Co-founded by He and MIT professor Nick Fang, BMF has developed so-called Projection Micro-Stereolithography (PμSL) technology to enable 3D printing of micro parts with a high level of precision. Its technology uses light, customizable optics, a high-quality movement platform and controlled processing technology to achieve this.

BMF claims to be the only additive manufacturing company that can deliver the highest 2μm-scale precision. Nearly 2,000 scientific research institutions and industrial enterprises from 35 countries work with BMF to rapidly build prototypes or for more efficient production of micro-scale parts. Notable sectors using BMF’s 3D printers include medical, life sciences and robotics.

“We’ve proven we can meet the needs of our customers, but we know that our technology can do more,” said John Kawola, the company’s global CEO. “This funding ensures we can continue our unwavering commitment to our customers and partners, while giving us the resources to power new innovation.”

3D Printing Veteran

Kawola, a Cornell engineer, has more than two decades of business leadership experience across the additive manufacturing, 3D printing and materials science industries.

“John has an incredibly impressive track record within the 3D printing and additive manufacturing community,” Fang, a professor of mechanical engineering and co-founder of BMF, said when Kawola joined the company in 2020. “He brings the deep industry, technology and business expertise that will lead BMF into its next phase of growth.”

Prior to BMF, Kawola served as president of Ultimaker North America, an open-source desktop 3D printer company. He has also held top positions at Harvest Automation and Z Corp., which was acquired by 3D Systems in 2012.