Welcoming Glowforge
By Tony Conrad, May 26, 2015
True portfolio company Glowforge announced their funding last week, and we are incredibly excited to welcome this awesome, beautiful 3D laser printer into the True Ventures hardware lineup.
As previous investors in Makerbot (acquired by Stratasys), we understand the 3D printing marketplace very, very well. Glowforge is a clear standout in this space because as a laser printer, it can work with a dazzling array of materials, including leather, metals, foam and more. We learned with Makerbot that 3D printers reached a 1st adopter market that was bigger than we had imagined—hobbyists, makers working on prototypes, educators and other early adopters. We believe the next huge market eruption in this space will be when the Glowforge transitions into homes. In the 90’s, it was odd if you didn’t have a printer in your home, and we believe the 3D laser printing capabilities offered by Glowforge—the ability to make really useful and beautiful things—present the next-generation ubiquitous printing opportunity.
Glowforge stands out not just because of its impressive technology, but also the extremely high quality of the Founders. CEO Dan Shapiro accidentally launched the bestselling board game in Kickstarter history when he crowdfunded Robot Turtles, a game that teaches programming fundamentals to preschoolers. Before his detour as a board game designer, Dan spent two years as CEO of Google Comparison, Inc., a Google subsidiary that operates comparison-shopping products. Chief Product Officer Tony Wright is a True alum twice-over—he founded RescueTime and went on to work at Trippy. Tony also built Cubeduel, the only app ever to go viral on LinkedIn.
From an investor standpoint, we are truly getting the band back together. We introduced Brad Feld at Foundry Group to Makerbot back in 2010, and we are very pleased to be riding shotgun today as Foundry leads this round for Glowforge. Bre Pettis and Jenny Lawton from Makerbot have also joined as investors, and it’s been a joy to work with the Makerbot “team” again.
An investment team that works well together, a market we understand implicitly and high-quality Founders whom we know—that is the magic formula for a winning investment. I firmly believe that within a five-year period, we will see Glowforge printers finding their way into everyday homes, and it’s an honor to partner with this company at their inception.
Dan and Tony: Welcome (back) to True!