Sculpteo

About Sculpteo

Sculpteo operates as an online 3D printing and digital manufacturing service, originating from France. The company was established in June 2009 by Eric Carreel, Clément Moreau, and Jacques Lewiner. Carreel is a serial entrepreneur who also co-founded Inventel and Withings, while Moreau brought a decade of R&D experience from his time at Thomson. The founders identified the emerging potential of 3D printing as a significant industrial shift and created what they term a "factory in the cloud".

The business primarily serves other businesses, from startups and SMEs to large corporations across a multitude of sectors including medical, automotive, aerospace, robotics, electronics, and consumer goods. Sculpteo's business model is centered on providing on-demand production of prototypes, individual parts, and serial production components through its online platform. Customers upload a 3D file to the website, receive an instant quote, and can have their objects produced and shipped. This model allows clients to manufacture products without large capital investments in their own production facilities.

The service portfolio includes a wide array of additive manufacturing technologies such as Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Multi Jet Fusion (MJF), Stereolithography (SLA), and Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS). They offer access to over 75 materials, including various plastics, resins, and metals like stainless steel and titanium. A key feature is the suite of online software tools that help users optimize their designs, for instance by hollowing out models to reduce material usage and cost. In a significant milestone, German chemical giant BASF acquired Sculpteo in late 2019 to accelerate the development and marketing of new industrial 3D printing materials. Following the acquisition, Clément Moreau remained as CEO, and the company continued to operate its platform, aiming to expand it into a global network.