Markforged founder Greg Mark leaves company
He was first to introduce continuous fiber composites in 3D printing with CFF process
Greg Mark, the inventor of the CFF (continuous filament fabrication) process and founder of Markforged is leaving the company. Back in 2013, Greg was the first to adapt filament extrusion 3D printing technology to integrate a continuous fiber reinforcement filament in order to make printed parts significantly stronger.
Based on that relatively simple idea, and an apparently overly complicated machine, the Mark One CFF system, he ended up building one of the most profitable and rapidly growing companies in all of additive manufacturing, culminating with the company going public on the NYSE. In this transition, Markforged received approximately $361 million of gross proceeds before transaction expenses, including a $210 million PIPE from Baron Capital Group, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Miller Value Partners, Wasatch Global Investors, and Wellington Management, as well as existing Markforged shareholders M12 – Microsoft’s Venture Fund and Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
Greg Mark left his position as Markforged CEO in November 2020 to take up the roles of Board Member and Investor. Current senior management includes President and CEO Shai Terem, who continues to operate the business. Kevin Hartz and Carol Meyers, venture partners at Glasswing Ventures, LLC, joined Markforged’s Board of Directors. Alan Masarek, most recently CEO of Vonage (Nasdaq: VG) joined the Board as Chairman.
“After an amazing ride at Markforged, it’s time for me to build the next one,” Greg wrote on his LinkedIn feed. “Thanks to all the people who helped get this revolutionary tech into the world. When we started this company in my dining room, the world was a different place. Engineers and designers had the choice between million-dollar metal machines that were hard to use with toxic materials and low-cost desktop machines that made plastic trinkets. We invented a new category that gave the best of both worlds – easy-to-use printers with strong parts made from metal and carbon fiber. We now have parts flying on the space station, military and commercial jets, powering factories, and most importantly, enabling the creations of students. As we look to the stars and dream about what’s next, it will be these students who take us there with 3D printed metal and carbon fiber.
“When you are running a company and looking forward, you see product road maps, new technologies to develop, key customers, enabling new applications, etc. But when you look back, all you see are people. Amazing, brilliant people who moved heaven and earth to change the world. As I’ve said at many all hands, from the bottom of my heart – thank you. The secret sauce at Markforged has alway been the team. Building with you has been one of the great joys of my life.”
An MIT graduate, Mr. Mark founded two startups before reaching planetary success with Markforged, building from CFF technology for composites to atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology for metal 3D printing (one of the very first bound metal 3D printing processes ever to be commercialized). His next venture, now in stealth mode, is called Mark Industries.
