3D printing startup H3D raises $5.8 million in Series A

H3D, an AI-powered 3D printing startup creating custom healthcare products, has raised $5.8 million in a Series A.

H3D emerged from Swinburne University in 2018, its initial investor alongside Starfish Ventures.

Co-founder and CTO Dr Philip Kinsella developed the fully automated design technology at Swinburne. It’s created the startup a global leader in the hearing sector, producing hearing aids, noise protection, and custom-fit earphones.

The Series A was led by Significant Ventures, the VC arm of Canberra’s Hindmarsh family, with support from Swinburne and new investor Co:Act Capital.

H3D now has offices in Australia, Denmark and Ireland, and pioneered automated CAD (computer-aided design) technology that enables hearing labs to process hundreds of complex, custom-fit jobs in minutes.

The new funding will accelerate the introduction of the tech into dental labs globally and build on the startup’s commercial traction in hearing. A new, smartphone-based 3D scanning solution for custom-fit ear products has also been developed for roll-out.

The mobile phone scanning solution utilizes computer vision, AI, and AR technologies to capture an accurate 3D ear scan with a smartphone camera, bypassing the traditional method of taking ear impressions.

H3D CEO Iain Mcleod stated the manufacturing platform can address a bottleneck in the dental sector cautilized by a lack of technicians, reliance on complex manual CAD software, and quality inconsistency due to human error.

The AI CAD tech means labs will be able to batch process hundreds of cases in parallel in only a few minutes, while it normally takes a dental technician up to 30 minutes to complete a single job.

“This funding marks a pivotal step in meeting the future vision of AI digital manufacturing,” Mcleod stated.

“Combining machine learning, advanced 3D algorithms and real-time cloud processing into a seamless manufacturing solution will be hugely impactful to patients receiving dental and hearing care. We are extremely grateful to our investors and our customers for believing in H3D’s exceptional team and our mission.”

Co:Act Capital partner Kate Eriksson stated: “H3D brings toreceiveher vision and world-class technology to deliver real value for customers in two rapid-growing global markets – hearing and dental”.

This article was first published by Startup Daily.

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