Scrona raises $9.6m to drive 3D print development

Additive manufacturing start-up Scrona AG has closed a Series A financing round, raising $9.6m (£7.1m/€8.5m) to support its ongoing development of new 3D print technologies.

The round was led by AM Ventures with syndicate partners including Trumpf Venture, Verve Ventures and Manz GmbH Management Consulting and Investment, with the total amount generated including $6.7m in Series A funding and a $2.9m grant from the Swiss Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). 
 
Scrona will use the funds to drive research and development into 3D print techniques and technologies, with its most recent launch coming in the form of what the start-up described as an industry-first.
 
The new multi-nozzle electrostatic printhead for mass manufacturing, according to Scrona, will speed up product invention in an economical and eco-friendly way, offering what the manufacturer described as “unprecedented” printing resolution in the sub-micrometre range.
 
Funding will allow Scrona to accelerate the industrialisation and commercialisation of this new technology, as well as to develop new applications across multiple industries including semiconductor manufacturing, high-end displays, electronics, and PCB. 
 
The technology is based on the electrostatic ejection principle, which provides very fine, submicron-scale printing and jetting, while allowing the adoption of various ink materials such as metals, dielectrics, organic, and biomaterials.
 
Scrona said the inks are more than 100 times more viscous than those compatible with conventional inkjet printheads, which will in turn deliver flexibility and cost-effectiveness in manufacturing.

“Scrona is enabling customers to digitally print the impossible, on any material, at scale, improving the speed, accuracy and cost of manufacturing today and tomorrow’s innovative products,” Scrona co-founder and chief executive Dr. Patrick Galliker said.

“We are very excited to be supported by this syndicate of expert investors who understand the disruptive potential of Scrona’s scalable printing technology, which has the ability to reduce manufacturing steps 10-fold, while also significantly reducing material, energy and water usage.”
 
Johann Oberhofer, managing partner at AM Ventures, which led the Series A investment round, added: “There is enormous potential of the Scrona technology in additive manufacturing because its technology can process materials that are simply not processable with other printheads today.
 
“The combination of the highest resolution and the ability to overcome restrictions around high-performance materials of current processes is unique. I expect that Scrona technology will enable completely new applications and we are glad to accompany them on their journey together with a strong investor line-up.”
 
Scrona is also the Guinness World Record-holder of the smallest ever printed colour picture, when it successfully printed an image of fish onto a single strand of human hair.