Formlabs weighs $500 million IPO after reporting $250 million-plus revenue

Why it matters

A Formlabs IPO would test whether public investors will value professional 3D printing as an installed-base materials and software business. It could also give SoftBank a liquidity path five years after investing at a $2 billion valuation.

Maxim Lobovsky (@MaxLobovsky)'s Formlabs is in early talks with potential advisers about an initial public offering that could raise roughly $500 million, Bloomberg reported on August 7th, citing people familiar with the matter.

The discussions remain preliminary. Bloomberg did not report a proposed exchange, valuation or listing timetable. Formlabs last established a public valuation in May 2021, when SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $150 million Series E at $2 billion.

The prospective offering would bring one of the most durable businesses from the desktop 3D printing wave into public view. Formlabs has spent 15 years expanding from a crowdfunded resin printer into a manufacturer of professional stereolithography, or SLA, and selective laser sintering, or SLS, systems. Its catalog now includes printers, proprietary resins and powders, post-processing equipment, workflow software and service plans.

That breadth will sit at the center of the IPO case. Public investors would have to decide whether Formlabs deserves to be valued primarily as a hardware manufacturer or as an installed-base business that can generate repeat sales from materials, software and services.

From a $3,000 printer to industrial production

Lobovsky arrived at the MIT Media Lab after working on Fab@Home, an early open-source 3D printing project. He founded Formlabs in 2011 with fellow MIT graduate students Natan Linder and David Cranor. The founders targeted the gap between low-resolution hobbyist machines and professional printers that could cost $100,000 or more.

Their initial product started around $3,000, according to a July 2026 MIT account of Formlabs' founding. The team lowered the price partly by adapting mass-market electronics, including laser diodes developed for Blu-ray players, to industrial-quality printing.

Formlabs introduced the Form 1 on September 26th, 2012, offering early Kickstarter buyers a printer, software and accessories package for as little as $2,299. The campaign ultimately raised $2.95 million. Formlabs followed with a $19 million Series A in 2013 and a $35 million Series B in 2016 before SoftBank's 2021 investment.

The product strategy has remained consistent: take equipment previously restricted to industrial buyers and redesign it for smaller engineering and manufacturing operations. Formlabs has since pushed upward into higher-volume production, where systems carry higher prices and customers place greater weight on throughput, reliability and material costs.

Its latest move came on June 9th, when Formlabs announced the Fuse X1, a large-format SLS system priced from $84,999. Formlabs says the machine delivers three times the throughput and a 50% lower cost per part than comparable industrial systems. Those performance comparisons are Formlabs' own. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Formlabs disclosed the numbers an IPO needs

The Fuse X1 announcement also contained Formlabs' clearest financial disclosure to date. Formlabs said annual revenue surpassed $250 million in 2025, that it had remained profitable for over two years and that free cash flow margin exceeded 10%.

Those figures are self-reported and have not been tested through a public filing. They nevertheless give potential advisers a far stronger pitch than Formlabs had during the low-rate fundraising market of 2021. Formlabs can present itself as a profitable hardware manufacturer with recurring material demand rather than a capital-intensive printer vendor still pursuing scale.

Formlabs also says it has sold over 130,000 printers, employs over 750 people and offers over 45 proprietary materials. Customers have printed over 500 million parts using Formlabs machines and materials, according to its website. An eventual prospectus would show how those operating figures translate into revenue retention, gross margin and cash generation.

The revenue mix will be particularly important. Printer sales can be cyclical and require inventory, manufacturing capacity, warranties and customer support. Proprietary resins, powders, software and service contracts can produce steadier repeat purchasing from the installed base. The durability of that repeat spending will determine whether investors treat Formlabs like an industrial equipment vendor or award it a premium for recurring revenue.

SoftBank's five-year wait

An IPO would create a route to liquidity for SoftBank Vision Fund 2 roughly five years after its investment. The contemplated $500 million offering does not establish how much would be primary capital for Formlabs and how much, if any, would be sold by existing shareholders. That distinction will shape whether the transaction funds expansion or primarily provides an exit for backers.

Formlabs began adding public-market experience after the Series E. In June 2021, it hired Dan O'Shaughnessy as chief financial officer. O'Shaughnessy had overseen accounting, treasury, planning and investor relations at SharkNinja and helped its former parent, JS Global Lifestyle, through a Hong Kong IPO. Formlabs still lists him as CFO.

The competitive case remains demanding. Stratasys' 2025 annual report identifies Formlabs alongside 3D Systems, EOS, HP and Carbon as competitors. Stratasys describes an additive-manufacturing market where buyers compare resolution, accuracy, surface quality, materials, speed, capacity and reliability for each application.

Formlabs has built its position by making professional printing cheaper and easier to deploy. The IPO process would expose whether that position also produces the margins, repeat revenue and predictable growth demanded by public investors. The reported adviser talks are an opening step. The decisive evidence will arrive in the financial statements Formlabs must publish if Lobovsky proceeds.