You might recognize the name Matterform. This is the Toronto-based company that took to Indiegogo last year to crowd-fund its 3D scanner. The original goal was to cover their costs and raise $81,000, but people loved its simplicity and accumulated a whopping $471,082.
Analysts are predicting the global 3D scanning is estimated to from $2.06 billion in 2013 to a respectable $4.08 billion by 2018. Matter and Form, formerly known as Matterform, is aiming to own a piece of the pie and received an injection of $2-million from Sandstone Asset Management Inc. and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF). Matter and Form was co-founded by Adam Brandejs and Drew Cox and the investment will be used to hire more staff, increase marketing efforts, and research and development.
The first product is the $579 Matter and Form 3D Scanner and is targeted to be available “by the end of August” to those in Canada, US, the UK, Japan, and China. The Matter and Form 3D Scanner is apparently the “highest quality 3D scanner available in its price range” and depending on the size of your scan can output objects between seven to 45 minutes. Users will be able to scan objects up to 190mm x 190mm x 250mm in size (7.5-inches x 9.75-inches height). On its Indiegogo page, the company noted that “due to overwhelming success we’ll add color scanning to the software.”
Drew Cox, CEO and Founder, stated, “Bringing a new product to market is an arduous and complex process, and we’ve been extremely fortunate to have backers who have encouraged us to take our time and get it right. That support has enabled us to reach the point where we are very proud of the product we’re shipping. The investment is just as important but in a different way. It will let us create products that will take people as far as their imaginations will let them. We couldn’t ask for better partners than Sandstone and IAF.”