MCor reports rapid growth, secures new funding

The CV takeaway

Growing fast, taking on new investment capital … MCor is one to watch.

The details

Imagine what you could do with a full-size photorealistic paper head.

MCor was the talk of the trade show circuit in 2013 with its unusual approach to 3D printing. The MCor IRIS cuts a three-dimensional shape from a stack of standard printing paper and then uses inkjet technology to apply photorealistic color.

This week at RAPID in Detroit, MCor announced it was upgrading its color game with support for the International Color Consortium (ICC) profile. Following the standard means IRIS can produce industry-standard colors to exactly match the original design or scan used to create the 3D object. Printers lacking an ICC profile determined color by what’s available in the printer, often introducing unintended changes. MCor becomes the first 3D printer manufacturer to use the ICC profile.

GIS models can be printed using the MCOR IRIS for a fraction of the cost of other approaches.

Better color was not the only announcement from MCor at RAPID.  The company reports sales growth of 308% in sales of their low-cost True Color printers and an overall increase of 227% in sales and distribution. The privately held company does not release actual sales numbers, so the percentage figures must be taken with a grain of salt. But the results were good enough to attract a new round of investor funding. MCor has received $12 million in growth capital, led by European investment firm WHEB.  MCor says it will use the money to build out its distribution channel.

Other titbits about MCor:

• Employee headcount has grown 69% in the past 12 months;
• There is a new finishing technology shipping with the IRIS and Matrix printers, providing flexible model properties;
• New software for file preparation now ships with all printers.

MCor paper-based 3D printing is obviously only suitable for examination, but that’s a big market. In addition to professional applications in manufacturing, construction and GIS, there are big markets to explore in education and health care. With printing costs a small fraction of competing view-only 3D printing solutions, MCor could not only open new markets to 3D printing but take market share from established products including the low-cost lines from Stratasys and 3D Systems.

MCor’s paper-based approach can provide inexpensive study models for professionals.

Schools and museums are a natural MCor growth market.

Healthcare is another market for MCor’s inexpensive paper-based 3D printing.