Seed capital for 3D printer for carbon composites

Automotive, (aero) space, medical and other industries are restricted in their use of carbon composites for lightweight construction due to the expensive and time-consuming manufacturing process. 9T Labs, incorporated on 19 January 2018 by ETH Zürich graduates Martin Eichenhofer, Giovanni Cavolina and Chester Houwink, simplifies the process by bringing a 3D printer to market that processes carbon composites. This makes it cheaper and more flexible to produce the material. Applications can be found in satellites, drones, and prosthetics, amongst others.

9T Labs has now raised seed capital of CHF 300'000 to expand its team with software and hardware engineers, and to iterate on the current product to meet additional market needs. Participants in the round stem from SICTIC, a business angel club focusin gon early stage startips.

With the seed round also comes the appointment of two new board members. 9T Labs has welcomed Pascal Mathis, co-founder of GetYourGuide, to join the board of directors and Thomas Dübendorfer, ex-Googler and President of the Swiss ICT Investor Club (SICTIC) to join the Advisory Board.

“When I saw their 3D carbon printer in operation in the lab, it became obvious to me that this new innovative technology will have a lot of applications in industry. Furthermore, I really liked the team spirit and their deep knowledge", said Dübendorfer.

“Pascal and Thomas bring broad start-up experience that will help us execute smart and fast. The international software engineering background that Thomas has is a welcome addition to our material processing and mechanical background and allows us to create an optimized product.” says Chester Houwink, Co-Founder of 9T Labs

Besides the closing of its seed round, 9T Labs has been was accepted into ESA’s Business Incubation Center. With a contribution of up to EUR 200,000 over two years, 9T Labs will benefit from ESA Bic’s support in developing its technologies for space applications.

(Press release/ran)