At Co Print, with our two founding partners, we embarked on the journey to advance the 3D printer industry in 2019. We developed this product by sleeping in the office many nights. Our initial focus was on creating a machine capable of multi-color and multi-material 3D printing. After enduring three unsuccessful prototypes and thousands of hours of testing, we completed a challenging two-year R&D phase. We finally launched our final prototype through a Kickstarter campaign. 🚀
Kickstarter Success
From the moment we introduced our idea to the 3D printing community, until the end of the Kickstarter campaign, we refined our product based on invaluable feedback. On our first day on Kickstarter, we achieved $100,000 in sales 💸.
By the end of our campaign, we secured pre-orders worth $220,000 from 500 backers and were honored with the 'Project We Love' badge ❤️ by Kickstarter.
Following this outstanding campaign 🌟, we received our initial pre-seed investment, expanded our team, and began producing the printers. Although we faced challenges and delays, we fulfilled every order 📦. Today, we want to share our achievements and lessons learned since our pivotal Kickstarter phase.
Post-Kickstarter Achievements
- We set up our 3D Printer Farm by purchasing 60 3D printers in 12 different models, enhancing our part production and R&D processes.
- We manufactured hundreds of Co Print devices, which we distributed to 64 countries 🌐, including those from the Kickstarter campaign.
- In 2022, we were awarded the Innovation Award 🏆 by Tom's Hardware, one of the world's leading hardware sites. We won this award in the 3D printer category, alongside global tech giants like Huawei, Microsoft, and Intel.
- At the Teknofest Take Off Startup Summit, we ranked 3rd 🥉 among 50 startups from 8 countries.
- We were accepted into the Innogate acceleration program's 🚀 UK edition.