BUFFALO, N.Y., April 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- PostProcess Technologies, the Buffalo, NY-based company that is the first and only company to automate post-printing for the industrial additive manufacturing (3D printing) market, today announced a $4 million seed round, including a $1 million investment from New York Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of Empire State Development. The PostProcess seed round experienced significant, organic oversubscription and has attracted a large number of investors including Rand Capital, Richmond Capital Partners, and prominent angel investors from around the globe. PostProcess Technologies will use the funding to further accelerate technology developments (including proprietary software, hardware and chemistry) and expand its global Customer Experience Team to meet an exponential growth in demand.

PostProcess Technologies has rapidly emerged as the company that solves the challenge of making 3D printed parts "customer ready" at high volume.  3D printed parts generally come off the printer with structural support material (required to print unique geometries) and an inconsistent surface.  Support removal and surface finishing are the two most common post-printing steps and are mostly completed with time intensive manual processes, which limit the volume of parts that can be produced.  Traditional manual post-printing often results in damaged and/or inconsistent parts.

PostProcess solves this with automated and intelligent post-printing solutions that significantly reduce labor-intensive tasks – saving customers time and money, increasing throughput, and delivering consistency unattainable with a manual process. The company provides a comprehensive, patented solution set including hardware, software and consumables. PostProcess has gained rapid traction with blue-chip customers across the automotive, aerospace, defense, life sciences and consumer products industries, among others.

"We continue to hear from our customers that the post-processing of parts is becoming the bottleneck in their additive operation as prototype volumes grow into the thousands per year and production volumes grow into the thousands per day.  Our technology delivers unparalleled consistency, while showing a return on investment that is often less than six months," said Jeff Mize, Chief Executive Officer, PostProcess Technologies.

"New York Ventures' investments into high-tech companies are a key component of our comprehensive strategy to create jobs and grow the economy in Upstate New York," said ESD President, CEO & Commissioner Howard Zemsky. "Western New York is once again being recognized for innovative, emerging manufacturing technologies such as 3-D printing, and we look forward to Post Process' continued success as the Company seeks to establish itself as a leader in the industrial additive manufacturing industry." 

"Additive manufacturing is now being implemented in every imaginable market across a wide variety of applications.   We were intrigued by the complex challenge of solving the finishing requirements across all 3D printer technologies and materials," said Daniel Hutchinson, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, PostProcess. "We are able to deliver unmatched results for our current and future customers through precision energy management, which we achieve through a combination of proprietary software, chemistry and hardware."  Hutchinson's distinguished naval service qualifies PostProcess as a veteran-owned small business (VOSB), providing an advantage to government and military customers.

About New York Ventures
New York Ventures is dedicated to encouraging innovation and fueling economic growth in communities across the State. This venture capital investment arm of Empire State Development is one of New York State's business resources and innovation investments, including the Governor's START-UP NY program, Innovation Hot Spots, the Regional Economic Development Councils, the Centers of Advanced Technology and Centers of Excellence networks, and the SUNY 2020 Initiative.

About PostProcess Technologies
PostProcess Technologies is the only provider of automated and intelligent post-processing solutions for 3D printed parts.  PostProcess Technologies removes the bottleneck in the third step of 3D printing – post-processing.  Through patent-pending technology, PostProcess Technologies delivers consistency and scalability in addition to delivering an increase in productivity. Customers span many industries including aerospace, automotive, consumer goods, defense and medical.  For more information, visit www.postprocess.com.

SOURCE PostProcess Technologies