Maker Movement and 3D Printing: Industry Stats

A large crowd convenes at a Maker Faire for the full scale mouse trap.
This maker movement puts power in the hands of the people to fund, design, prototype, produce, manufacture, distribute, market and sell their own goods. This movement impacts global manufacturing as creation shifts geographically to local, philosophically to sustainability and legally to force the adaptation of new IP laws as people move from consuming to creating and sharing.

The following material features links, sources and dates, sorted in logical orders, to help you find key data that you’ll need to make informed decisions. Additionally, I’ll link to other listings and indexes that will provide further context. One of my goals is to serve as an industry curator to advance our collective knowledge, research, and in addition to own personal understanding. If this is truly a sharing economy, then we must be willing to share what we learn and know with others. If you would like to read an overview that includes three distinct business opportunities for corporations, read the full report on the Collaborative Economy Value Chain. Please leave comments with your input and URL. I’ll be happy to add and credit you.

Scope: The practice of individual people or non-traditional groups creating physical goods and products.

Market Capitalization and Value

• Economic boost: “Makers pump some $29 billion into the economy each year.” USA Today, Oct 2013
• 3D printing value: “The overall market for 3-D printing products and services hit $2.2 billion in 2012, a compounded annual growth rate of almost 29 percent compared to the $1.7 billion the industry recorded in 2011.” Wired, May 2013
• Revenue of 3D printing: “North America & Asia-Pacific accounted for more than 68.0% of the 3D Printing Materials Revenue in 2012.” MarketsandMarkets, Nov 2013
• Surge in sales: “MakerBot [a 3D printer manufacturer] had sold approximately 7,500 machines from 2009 to 2012, generating an estimated $10 million to $15 million in revenue.” Wired, Apr 2012
• Breadth of the movement: Approximately 135 million U.S. adults are makers: “People who employ their creative skills in craft activities, such as making clothing, jewelry, baked goods or works of craft or art. That’s 57% of the American population age 18 and up.” USA Today, Oct 2013

Market Projections

• 3D printing projected growth: “3D printing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 23% from 2013 to 2020 and reach $8.41B in 2020.” MarketsandMarkets, Nov 2013
• 3D printing  projected growth: “3D Printing Industry to Grow to $4B in 2025” IDTechEx, March 2014
• 3D printing growth projections: “World demand for 3D printing is projected to rise more than 20 percent per year to $5 billion in 2017.”   Reports and Reports, Dec 2013
• 3D printing historic growth: “There was a 35,000% increase in 3D printers sold from 2007 to 2011, with 66 3D printers sold in 2007 and 23,265 sold in 2011.” Yahoo Finance, Nov 2013
• Increased material demand: “The market for 3D printing plastic materials in terms of revenue was worth $70.5 million in 2012 and is expected to reach $209.6 million by 2018.” Ciol Bureau, Dec 2013
• Europe growth: “Europe is expected to be the second-fastest growing market, with a CAGR of 15.7% from 2013 to 2018, owing to rising consumption in this region, where end-user markets of 3D printing materials are growing steadily, especially in manufacturing industrial and consumer products. The ROW market is expected to grow the least, compared to other regions in terms of revenue.” MarketsandMarkets, Nov 2013
• European position: “Europe is poised to pass the Americas, in terms of revenue in 3D printing, by 2020.” MarketsandMarkets, Nov 2013
• Global demand for 3D printing: “World demand for 3D printing is projected to rise more than 20 percent per year to $5 billion in 2017.” RnR Market Research, Feb 2014
• Global demand for 3D printing supplies: “Global 3D Printing Materials Market to Reach $408.5 Million by 2018” MarketsandMarkets, Nov 2013
• Aerospace growth projections: “Much of the growth in 3D printing from 2014 to 2020 will come from the healthcare and aerospace industries.” MarketsandMarkets, Nov 2013
• North American and Asia Growth: “North America & Asia-Pacific Accounted for more than 68.0% of the 3D Printing Materials Revenue in 2012.” MarketsandMarkets, Nov 2013
• Regional growth: “The North American region dominated the 3D Printing Materials Market revenues in 2012. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a high CAGR from 2013 to 2018, followed by the North American region.” MarketsandMarkets, Nov 2013

Venture Capital Investing

• Andreessen Horowitz invested $30M in Shapeways, putting its confidence into the 3D printing industry. Wired, Apr 2013. Previously, Shapeways raised $5m to spin out of Philips. Shapeways Blog, Sep 2010
• MakerBot raised $10M in Venture Round funding. TechCrunch, Aug 2011
• Shapeways raised $48.5M. CrunchBase data from 2014
• CustomMade raised $25.25M. CrunchBase data from 2014
• Etsy raised $60M. CrunchBase data from 2014
• Maker’s Row raised $1M in seed funding. CrunchBase data from 2014

Startup Valuation and Growth

• “CustomMade grew from 350 makers in 2009 to more than 12,000 makers at the end of 2013 with $25.7M in venture capital funding.” Sacramento Bee, Dec 2013
• “TechShop, a maker co-working space, has experienced 798% revenue growth in the last 3 years.” The Verge, Sep 2013
• “Etsy is valued at $600M and has 263 employees. $2.28M per employee. Etsy increased sales by 71% in one year: 2010 $307M to 2011 $525M.” BitRebels, Jun 2012
• “Etsy has 875,000 shops; 13,000,000 items; 2,900,000 items sold per month.” BitRebels, Jun 2012
• “There are 15 million Etsy DIYers in over 150 countries with 690,000 new members joining every month.” BitRebels, Jun 2012
• Etsy sellers don’t identify as hobbyists. 74% consider their Etsy shops as businesses. 91% aspire to grow their sales in the future. Etsy sellers are 88% women, 97% run their businesses from home, and they’re geographically dispersed around the US. Income earned on Etsy makes a real difference in people’s lives. It is used for household expenses, discretionary spending, savings and investment. Etsy sellers are characteristic of a larger shift to flexible work. 18% sell goods full-time. Only 26% have other full-time traditional jobs. Etsy shops are a new kind of “start-up” that aren’t run by stereotypical Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who want to grow as big as possible as quickly as possible. Etsy sellers are independent, self-sufficient and they want to stay that way. Survey of 5,500 Etsy sellers, Etsy, Nov 2010.

Mergers and Acquisitions: 

• Stratasys acquired MakerBot for $403M, TechCrunch, Jun 2013
• Materialise acquired 3D prototyping firm e-Prototypy, TechCrunch, Feb 2014
• 3D Systems acquired Xerox’s Solid Ink Engineering & Development Teams, WSJ, Jan 2014

Events: 

• Maker Faire has had over 50 events globally, with flagship events across key cities. Wikipedia, 2014
• Google and MAKE Magazine held the Second Annual Maker Camp, with over 1 million kids participating in the online camp teaching teens to build, hack and explore.” TechCrunch, Jul 2013
• “With its two flagship fairs in San Francisco and New York and 86 worldwide mini-fairs, Maker Faire had 280,000 attendees in 2013.”

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Photo used within Creative Commons Licence, by OnInnovation.  Please leave a comment and URL with your stats, and I’ll quote and credit you. I’ll be updating this on a regular basis during 2014.