Metal 3D printing technology company Desktop Metal is set to go public via an SPAC deal, following the trend recently seen by other big names in tech.
Desktop Metal will list through an agreement with Trine Acquisition Corp, which values the company at $2.5 billion.
Virgin Galactic and Nikola Motor Company are just a few of the other businesses to choose the special-purpose acquisition companies — or SPAC — route.
"It's a trend because it's a more efficient process to go public," Ric Fulop, co-founder and CEO of Desktop Metal, told Cheddar Wednesday. "It doesn't actually make it easier. It's just quite a bit of work actually. You still have to be a public-ready business and have all of the things that you need to do to go public. But the reason why it's a trend is because the quality of the sponsors has increased dramatically."
According to Desktop Metal, the additive manufacturing industry is expected to grow from $12 billion to $146 billion this decade, shifting from prototyping to mass production.
Fulop said consumers are unlikely to encounter actual products made by Desktop Metal, but instead products made with Desktop Metal's 3D printed parts.
"It's a very horizontal technology that's very much used for lots of different applications from rapid parts, to automotive, consumer electronics, space. It's at the heart of everything we're doing in next generation hardware," Fulop said.
"And the focus of Desktop Metal, in particular, is mass production. There is a prior generation of additive systems, but they are dramatically slower. The technology that we've brought to the market is 100 times faster than legacy systems, and that's what differentiates our technology."
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020. Desktop Metal will use the ticker symbol $DM when it makes its official debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
