Press Release: For Immediate Release

We’ve just concluded a very successful second funding round where AstroPrint raised a total of $1M from two prominent VCs: Stanley Ventures and Alma Mundi Ventures. With this new investment, AstroPrint has raised a total of $2.1M, and we are now poised to grow our 3D printing cloud solution that already serves over 95k users from 130 countries.

Who are the Investors?

Stanley Ventures is the venture capital arm of Fortune 500 company Stanley Black & Decker. Stanley Ventures has invested in several companies in the additive manufacturing space, including an investment in a new Selective Thermoplastic Electrophotographic Process (STEP) 3D printing technology.

Alma Mundi Ventures is a tech venture fund based in Madrid with investors in Palo Alto, New York, London, Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid, orchestrating a global network of over 500 members in 41 cities worldwide. Their investments are primarily global tech startups in the United States and in Europe.

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We often get asked how a system like AstroPrint can save an Enterprise so much money, while dramatically increasing Additive Manufacturing output.  This article will explore one of the primary ways we can do exactly this.

Let’s start with understanding how most Enterprises buy 3D Printers:  In most organizations, an engineer requests a 3D Printer for themselves, or a department.  After lots of bureaucracy, they get this approved and the purchasing process can begin. Being a large organization, they reach out to a public company such as Stratasys or 3D Systems and enter the Enterprise sales cycle of these organizations.  They then go on to purchase a high end 3D Printer with a service contract and advanced (paid) software package to manage the printer.

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This is part of our Getting Started series that our space monkeys email to new users.

Greetings AstroPrint-er,

This is the final tip in your Getting Started series for AstroPrint. Don’t be sad the tips are ending, be happy you are now a 3D printing expert! 😉

Tip 5:  To Infinity and Beyond!  Now that you’re hooked on 3D printing, let’s make you a 3D printing rockstar! It’s time to start 3D printing with your phone, tablet, or remote computer.

To print wirelessly, your 3D printer will need to be cloud enabled. Luckily to enable most 3D printers you simply need to plug an AstroBox into it. There are two ways you can get an AstroBox:

• Pick one up online, here.
• Make one yourself out of a Raspberry Pi. The AstroBox software for the RPi is totally free, but you’ll have to buy a few pieces of hardware. This is just for techies, and instructions can be found here.

Setup of the AstroBox is incredibly simple, check out this video to see how its done.

Learn More About the AstroBox

What can you do with a wireless enabled 3D printer, you ask?

• Start and stop prints from any web enabled device (phone, tablet, remote computer).
• Remote Monitoring of prints (requires a web camera).
• Share timelapses of your prints to FB and YouTube.
• Ability to start prints directly from the internet, and certain websites.
• And much more.

Thanks for following our Getting Started tips! Please let us know if you found these tips helpful, awesome, boring, and/or terrible! Simply reply to this email to let us know.  :–)

We’ll see you on the AstroPrint Mothership!

The AstroPrint Team

 

Other tips in this series:

Tip 1: Fuel Up! – Getting Started with 3D Designs

Tip 2: Prepare to Launch – Slicing and Advanced Settings

Tip 3: Take Off – All the ways to print with AstroPrint

Tip 4: The Space Station – All about 3D Printing Apps

Tip 5: To Infinity and Beyond – Wireless 3D Printing

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