Early Amazon and Google Executive Jim Miller Turns His Hand to Reinventing Manufacturing; $12.5M in New Capital led by Asahi Glass with Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, Leslie Ventures and Khosla Ventures to Fuel Mass Commercialization
SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AREVO®, the leader in software-controlled additive manufacturing technology, today introduced a new CEO and a $12.5 million Series B financing round to usher in the next era of 3D printing and transform the way manufactured products are conceived, designed, built, and maintained. With its unique combination of software, robotics, and materials, AREVO provides designers and manufacturers with unprecedented freedom to unlock the unparalleled strength, weight and economics of composite materials for a wide range of consumer and industrial products.
New CEO Jim Miller oversaw Amazon’s expansion from books, music and video to full-range fulfillment capabilities as vice president of supply chain, ushering in its meteoric rise to $6 billion in annual revenue and building the foundation for the company that it is today. Later, as vice president of worldwide operations at Google, he led the team that planned, built, deployed and operated the infrastructure that powers Google: search, YouTube, gmail, advertising and cloud businesses.
Miller’s appointment coincides with the close of $12.5 million in Series B financing led by Asahi Glass, with Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, Leslie Ventures and Khosla Ventures. The new financing will help the company build on its groundbreaking R&D success and focus on the full-scale commercialization of its technology across a diverse set of industries such as aerospace, defense, transportation, automotive, consumer electronics, sporting goods, medical, and oil and gas.
“AREVO is at an exciting inflection point in its business right now,” said Jim Miller, CEO of AREVO. “We have the technology, team and tools to commercialize our software and fabrication process to build high strength parts that the manufacturing industry hasn’t been able to conceive and construct before.”
AREVO has created a new paradigm for manufacturing by combining dynamic software, automation and robotics, and patented materials science to reimagine how products are created, from ideation to execution. Innovative partners building for mass markets will be able to leverage AREVO’s software and robotic printing process to create and scale lightweight products of superior strength and unlimited size.
To demonstrate its software and robotics at work, AREVO partnered with Studio West to create the world’s first true 3D-printed commuter bike. A reimagined form factor removed a seat stay between the seat and back wheel, adding strength and new simplicity.
Comments on the News:
Masatoshi Ueno, AGC Ventures, a corporate venturing arm of Asahi Glass, said, “We are thrilled by joining AREVO’s journey as an investor and commercialization partner. AREVO’s technology will enable us to add new business lines on top of current material solutions.”
“AREVO’s approach is a significant leap forward as it is truly 3D printing rather than stacked 2D printing, which is what most of us are accustomed to,” said Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures. “AREVO is the company that can finally move 3D printing beyond novelty applications and into a mainstream manufacturing necessity with its unique nexus of software, robotics, and composite materials.”
“We are excited to be partnering with AREVO, a company truly leading the industry of 3D printing technology for carbon fiber parts,” said Tak Niki, General Manager of Sumitomo Corporation of Americas’ Silicon Valley office. “We see great opportunity in the future as AREVO’s technology is leveraged to reduce cycle time and cost within various industries. We look forward to helping to grow their company as well as applying their logic to several of our existing businesses.”
About AREVO
AREVO, based in Silicon Valley, California, develops technology to enable direct digital additive manufacturing of ultra-strong, lightweight composite parts for end use applications in high volume. With our unique combination of breakthrough materials, powerful design/build software, and free motion robotics for the first “true 3D” construction, AREVO is moving beyond prototypes by enabling the design and fabrication of large, mass-produced parts and structures, quickly leading 3D printing into mainstream manufacturing. AREVO provides designers and manufacturers with unprecedented freedom to unlock the unparalleled strength and weight of composite materials for a wide range of consumer and industrial products, and has seen early success manufacturing CFRTP composite parts for OEM customers. With an initial focus on Aerospace, Defense, Consumer Electronics, Transportation, and Consumer Goods, Arevo is poised to optimize additive manufacturing services to OEM’s worldwide.
Contact
Meredith Klee for AREVO
[email protected]
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/b021fe1f-ef68-4828-a13b-1d1f2bc9b963