Evolve Additive Solutions winds down, puts STEP printing assets up for auction
The Minnesota company behind the toner based STEP platform is liquidating equipment across its Edina, Rochester, and Minnetonka sites through Grafe Auction, starting with an online sale closing September 17.
Evolve Additive Solutions is winding down operations and liquidating its physical assets. The company has engaged Grafe Auction to run a site by site sale of its equipment over the next two months, starting with its Edina, Minnesota location at 7355 Washington Ave S. Bidding on that catalog is live online now and closes Thursday, September 17 at 1pm Central time, with an in-person preview and inspection window that morning from 9am to noon. Auctions covering Evolve’s sites in Rochester, New York and Minnetonka, Minnesota follow in October.
Evolve spun out of Stratasys in April 2018 to commercialize STEP, an electrophotographic process adapted from 2D toner imaging that built parts layer by layer from engineering-grade thermoplastics, with a pitch centered on matching injection molding on cost, surface finish, and part strength at production volumes into the hundreds of thousands of units a year. Founder Steve Chillscyzn, who held 45 patents tied to the technology, developed STEP as an internal Stratasys R&D project before the spin-off.
STEP technology represented an incredible revolution in AM, offering something truly unique, such as unrivaled precision and speed of production for ABS. Unfortunately, like many other state-of-the-art technologies, EVOLVE proved too costly and complex to scale, and the company was not sufficiently structured to adequately support its scale-up efforts. As in several other recent cases of AM companies closing down, VoxelMatters followed their evolution very closely, and we regret never having had the opportunity to work with them to help adequately promote and market their products via our media platform.
Stanley Black & Decker and the LEGO Group backed the company from the start, putting in $19 million in 2017, followed by a further $25 million round in 2018 that added Stratasys as an investor. A $30 million growth round from 3D Ventures in 2021, which brought total funding past $55 million, coincided with Evolve shipping its first commercial SVP (Scalable Volume Production) system. In 2022, 3D Ventures managing partner Joe Allison took over as CEO to push the company toward commercialization, with Chillscyzn moving to chief technology officer.
Anyone with questions about onsite removal can reach Sheldon Svenson at (920) 327-8761; Grafe Auction’s general customer service line is (800) 328-5920.
