Shapeways is back and so are its original founders
New management team for Eindhoven-based Shapeways announced
Founded in Eindhoven, Shapeways had been supplying 3D printing services reliably since 2008. That is, until earlier this year when the company filed for bankruptcy as a result of insufficient profits in the years after it went public. After the bankruptcy, it did not take long for former Dutch staff to announce that the Dutch-based services would continue under a new name, Manuevo, after a small team successfully acquired the assets of Shapeways BV, a subsidiary of US-based Shapeways Holding Inc.
Now, Shapeways has announced who will be leading the service’s latest incarnation. The new management team is composed of some familiar faces, including two of the original company founders: Marleen Vogelaar, CEO, and Robert Schouwenburg, CTO, who left the company in 2014 and 2012, respectively. Also on the management team are members of the Eindhoven-based Shapeways BV team, such as Jules Witte, COO, who joined in 2012; Job van de Laar, Plant Manager, who joined the company in 2019; and Tiago São José, Head of Engineering, who joined in 2012.
Despite the bankruptcy filing in July 2024, the team at the Eindhoven factory always maintained that their operations were profitable and sustainable and thus wanted to continue serving customers. While the original plan was to rebrand as Manuevo, the new management team has reportedly purchased all available assets from both Shapeways Inc. and Shapeways BV, which means it now owns the Shapeways name, website and original Eindhoven production facility.
“When I helped to launch Shapeways in 2008 it was at the forefront of democratizing access to digital manufacturing,” said Shapeways CEO Marleen Vogelaar. “The new management team believes there is a ‘next chapter’ to be written in the Shapeways story, one that includes learning from the past and building a pragmatic, financially sustainable and operationally stable company that continues to provide exceptional service to our users.”
This new company—which in actually is closer to the original AM service—will be based out of its home in the Netherlands and offer customer-focused 3D printing services, comprising a wide range of technologies, materials and post-processing options. One point that is a real loss to the Shapeways community is that the new company is not able to access and restart its marketplace and shops due to “data lost during the bankruptcy and unusable infrastructure”, though the new management says they are looking into solutions for the community. The company explains further: “User IP (e.g., model data) was owned by the users, not the defunct entity. The new management team bought all the available intellectual property owned by the defunct entity, but did not buy or get access to user-owned IP as the trustee could not sell that to any new owner.”
“Our belief in Shapeways has driven us to continue this journey,” concluded COO Jules Witte. “The acquisition of the Shapeways brand marks a significant milestone on that journey, but doesn’t signal the end. In fact we are excited by the opportunities that lie ahead for Shapeways, our customers and their customers. We have a long way to go, but retain our core ability to produce high-quality parts to meet the needs of our varied customer base.”
As a former user and employee of the previous iteration of Shapeways, my feelings about this relaunch are complex and multilayered and contain a lot of impolite gestures and fart noises. It was a classic example of a startup having a cool product, but no idea how to fairly deal with the staff or designers who kept it going. Clueless management and vampiric investors killed what could have been a really good thing,
Here’s hoping the ones in control this time value the people who make their work happen, and treat them well enough to earn the trust squandered by the expensive name on their door.