Headmade Materials receives EU funding of EUR 5.8 million

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Headmade Materials receives EU funding of EUR 5.8 million

Headmade Materials has been selected for the EU Commission's EIC Accelerator programme as one of Europe's most innovative companies and will receive additional support to bring its technologies to market faster. With the largest funding round to date, the EIC Accelerator programme supports 99 different companies with up to EUR 627 million. Headmade Materials will receive up to EUR 5.85 million within the EIC Accelerator programme, placing it among the top 10 German companies in the programme. "The funds will significantly accelerate the scale-up of our production and the expansion of the business," says Marius Geldner, CFO of Headmade Materials.

The metal 3D printing process ColdMetalFusion from Headmade Materials enables the series production of complex metal parts in larger quantities, even over 100,000 parts. This clearly distinguishes the process from existing metal 3D printing processes, which are too limited in terms of both speed and manufacturing costs for larger series. The design freedom within 3D printing also allows advantages over conventional manufacturing processes (milling, casting), as these are limited in the possible part complexity and often also material selection.

With its technological advantages and broad fields of application, Headmade Materials was able to convince the EU Innovation Council (EIC) and is one of the 99 out of 1,109 applicant startups that have a strategic relevance for the European economic system and can define industries with their innovative power.

"We are very proud to have been selected for the EIC Accelerator programme and to have prevailed over 1,000 other companies" says Christian Staudigel, CEO and Co-Founder of Headmade Materials. "This not only underlines the relevance of 3D printing for industries in Europe, but also that we are on the right track with our ColdMetalFusion technology. At the same time, however, we also see this nomination as an obligation to make our technology available, also internationally, to as many users as possible and as quickly as possible."

3D Printing with ColdMetalFusion

The ColdMetalFusion technology ('Metal SLS') is a sinter-based process for the production of metal parts. In the first step, a feedstock material is processed on laser-based 3D printers for plastics (SLS) to produce a green part. The green part is then pre-debinded in a solvent and sintered in a sintering furnace to a dense metal part. The printing process from Headmade Materials thus combines two common standard processes, laser-based 3D printing for plastics and the debinding and sintering processes commonly used in powder metallurgy. The combination of the standard processes does not require any hardware adjustments, which is why the ColdMetalFusion process is easy to integrate and at the same time countless different hardware suppliers are available.

However, a special feedstock material consisting of metal powder and a plastic binder is required to use the printing process. The material availability can thereby cover the full spectrum of powder metallurgy.

EIC Accelerator Programme

The EIC Accelerator is part of the EUR 95.5 billion Horizon Europe programme to promote innovation and entrepreneurship from 2021 to 2027, with the Horizon Europe programme also aiming to slow climate change, meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals, foster innovation and create jobs in Europe.

Headmade Materials will use the funds from the EIC Accelerator programme primarily for the scale-up of its feedstock production, the expansion of the product portfolio to include additional materials and alloys, and the intensification of international sales.

"The funds from the EIC Accelerator programme will give us the additional resources we need to increase our speed even more and offer our technology to a broader international customer base. Speed is one of the keys to success, especially in the international competitive environment" says CFO Marius Geldner.

About Headmade Materials

Headmade Materials GmbH, Wuerzburg, Germany, develops materials and processes for metal 3D printing of series components. The core of the technology is the sinter-based 3D printing process Cold Metal Fusion (‘Metal SLS’), which enables customers to produce metal components in series at low cost and at scale. By adapting the material, the process runs on available machinery from different manufacturers and greatly facilitates process integration and part certification. Headmade Materials offers customers on-site use of the Cold Metal Fusion process as well as 3D-printing services and consulting.
 

About the European Innovation Council

The European Innovation Council (EIC) has been established under the EU Horizon Europe programme. It has a budget of EUR 10.1 billion to support game changing innovations throughout the lifecycle from early stage research, to proof of concept, technology transfer, and the financing and scale up of start-ups and SMEs. The strategy and implementation of the EIC is steered by the EIC Board, which has independent members appointed from the world of innovation (entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, corporates and others from the innovation ecosystem).

For more information visit eic.ec.europa.eu

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