Anisoprint moves to China, scales up continuous fiber 3D printer production

Source (All Images) | Anisoprint

Anisoprint (Shanghai, China) announces a series of recent developments. The continuous fiber 3D printing technology developer has officially moved its headquarters to China, though it remains a global company, with plans to open locations in Europe and the U.S. Coinciding with these changes, Ryan Liu has become the new CEO of Anisoprint, working closely alongside Fedor Antonov, now CTO.

Anisoprint has seen rapid growth. It closed a round of Series A funding in July 2023, and is working on its next funding round, to close this spring, which is anticipated to bring in more than 2.5 more funding than the previous round.

The company’s manufacturing developments, which have also been relocated to China, have continued without interruption. Plans include delivery 40 of Anisoprint’s Composer continuous fiber 3D printers per month — the first batch was shipped before the beginning of 2024 — and a shipment of 10 Prom IS 500 industrial printers are ready. Anisoprint plans to eventually open a new 8,000-square-meter manufacturing facility in Suzhou

In 2020, CEO Ryan Liu began co-operations with Anisoprint as an agent. Within two years, the company began its business with the Chinese market from scratch, achieving 400% sales growth in 2022. This quickly established Anisoprint’s domestic brand awareness and distributor network, and enabled the team to localize the first batch of 3D printers. 

Liu joined the Anisoprint team in 2023, leading the establishment of the China-based company, and construction of its facility.

“As soon as Fedor and Mikhail arrived in China last year, our first priority was to find a location. Local governments in China compete fiercely for new companies and technologies,” Liu explains. “Several local governments offered us incentives, but something was always missing and we kept searching. This was before our long-time partner and friend, Dr. Xiaofan Luo, CEO of 3D printing materials manufacturer Polymaker, introduced us to the government of the industry zone in which Polymaker is located. And it was a perfect match!” Liu notes that, in addition to its close proximity to Shanghai, the determined location resides within a community of other 3D printing companies, such as Raise3D, Rayshape, Polymaker, Helio Additive and others.

Prom IS 500 continuous fiber 3D printer line.

“With this new facility, we will be able to scale up production of our entire product line, including our Composer A4 and A3, Prom IS 500, a new generation of desktop anisoprinting called the Composer Nova, as well as a new composite fiber production line with extended capacity,” says Liu. “Our R&D labs will be located on the upper floors of the building.” 

In addition, Anisoprint is bringing in additional employees whom will focus on new material profiles and new materials for a new machine, as well as working on Aura 3 — adding topology optimization features, integrating Aura Connect and more.

“I don’t know any other approach to mastering something new than hard work and learning by doing it alongside experienced colleagues. Yes, the new team will make mistakes and learn from them. Yes, there will be no immediate result, because it takes time,” reflects Fedor Antonov, Anisoprint CTO. “All of us work together, new team and old team, in different roles. In other words, you take on the role of an application engineer and a support engineer in collaboration with your experienced colleagues for a period of time.”