Additive Manufacturing Leader Stratasys to Acquire MakerBot 

In the rapidly growing world of additive manufacturing, there are two names that continue to stand out: on the industrial side sits Stratasys, while the startup MakerBot has quickly become synonymous with desktop 3D printing. But on Wednesday, a $403 million stock deal could bring the biggest two names in the industry under a single Stratasys roof.

In coming together, the two companies expect to drive “faster adoption of 3D printing,” but the question remains of whether the merger is more likely to boost consumer 3D printing or industrial-grade additive manufacturing.

“MakerBot has impressive products, and we believe that the company's strategy of making 3D printing accessible and affordable will continue to drive adoption,” said David Reis, CEO of Stratasys.

As a part of the agreement, MakerBot will continue to function as a separate company as a subsidiary of Stratasys dedicated to the consumer and desktop market. Bre Pettis, MakerBot's CEO and co-founder will remain on board.

Since its launch in 2009, MakerBot has sold over 22,000 3D printers, with half of those sales coming from the past nine months alone thanks to its Replicator 2 that hit stores in September, 2012.

Stratasys, on the other hand, will continue representing the industrial space by providing the tools necessary for rapid prototyping and custom components for manufacturing applications. Following its merger with Object Ltd in 2012, buying MakerBot is just one more step to securing the Israeli company's dominance in the additive manufacturing space.

In the meantime, this will likely be bigger news for MakerBot, who will now be able to tap into Stratasys' industry experience, engineering talent, and get a front row seat to the most promising research headed our way.

The stock-for-stock deal calls for Stratasys to purchase all of privately held MakerBot's shares in exchange for 4.8 million of Stratasys' publically traded shares. Based on Stratasys' closing stock price of $84.60, the initial value of the acquisition is estimated at $403 million, although if certain performance benchmarks are met by the end of next year, MakerBot stakeholders could take home an addition 2.4 million shares, bumping the deal up another $201 million.

The companies expect to finalize the deal by the third quarter of 2013.