FITTLE and Velo3D partner on financing metal AM solutions
FITTLE, the equipment financing business of Xerox Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: XRX) and Velo3D Inc. (NYSE: VLD), have entered into a strategic partnership to help Velo3D customers finance purchases of the company’s fully integrated metal additive manufacturing solution.
“Velo3D is experiencing impressive growth and increased demand, well on its way to becoming one of the largest metal additive manufacturing companies in the world,” said Nicole Torraco, President, FITTLE. “We look forward to supporting this growth as we provide new financing structures for their customers across various global markets.”
Breathing new life into a relatively slow-moving metal additive manufacturing industry, Velo3D has been the only new entry metal AM hardware company to enter the market and experience significant growth and high machine unit sales. The company differentiated its offering by creating an innovative end-to-end process that enables customers in aviation, power generation, energy and semiconductor industries to better design and print the parts they need. Through this new partnership with FITTLE, Velo3D will provide its customers with more options for acquiring its Sapphire family of printers.
“As we continue building upon our significant year-over-year growth, our focus is on ensuring all potential customers have access to our industry-leading solutions,” said William McCombe, Chief Financial Officer, Velo3D. “FITTLE will make our solutions more accessible to customers so they can focus on creating mission-critical metal parts for their companies.”
Xerox, on the other hand, followed a diametrically opposite trajectory: the company invested in a unique metal AM 3D printing process, which it referred to as liquid metal printing, with the goal of making metal AM more affordable and ubiquitous. Initially, Xerox seemed set on investing heavily in AM, however, after the technology failed to rapidly offer significant returns, it was quickly discarded. At the same time, Xerox remains present in the AM market through FITTLE, which also offers financing options on Formlab 3D printers, as well as via investments in Castor and Black Buffalo 3D for the construction 3D printing segment.
