Acquired by Nano Dimension for ~$179M (closed April 2025), then filed Chapter 11 ~117 days later; assets liquidated for ~$7M.
The rise & fall
9 moments · 2015–2025
The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2015
🌱
2015
Founded out of MIT circles
Ric Fulop and a bench of MIT professors set out to bring metal 3D printing to the mainstream.
TechCrunch
Dec 2020
🦄
Dec 2020
Goes public at $2.5B
Merges with Trine Acquisition Corp — an early ride on the SPAC wave.
SEC filing
2021
📈
2021
The peak: ~$7.5B in the SPAC frenzy$7.5B
The 3D-printing bubble crests; flush with stock, the company buys rivals like ExOne and EnvisionTEC.
Macrotrends
2022
💔
2022
Falls out of the club
Demand never scales, cash burns, and the market cap sinks under $1B.
Macrotrends
Sep 2023
Sep 2023
Stratasys merger collapses
The proposed tie-up dies when Stratasys shareholders vote it down.
Reuters
2022–24
💬
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2022–24
Glassdoor reviews traced the unraveling: employees described an acquisition spree with no integration plan that gutted once-profitable startups, counted repeated waves of layoffs, and watched the 401(k) match vanish as leadership chased profitability.
Apr 2025
🤝
Apr 2025
Acquired by Nano Dimension for ~$179M$179M
The deal closes after a court fight — about 2% of the peak valuation.
SEC filing
Jul 2025
🪦
Jul 2025
Chapter 11 — joins the Unitard Club 💔
Roughly 117 days after the acquisition closes, the new owner puts Desktop Metal into bankruptcy.
Court filing
2025
2025
Core assets sold for ~$7M
A company once worth ~$7.5B fetches about a thousandth of that in liquidation.
Court filing
$7.32Bof peak value erased · 7 years
💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Desktop Metal aimed to bring metal 3D printing to the mainstream, going public via a 2020 SPAC merger at a $2.5B valuation — its market value briefly soaring near $7.5B. Demand never scaled; it burned cash buying rivals like ExOne and EnvisionTEC, a proposed Stratasys merger collapsed, and the stock cratered.
Nano Dimension bought Desktop Metal for about $179M in April 2025, only for it to file Chapter 11 117 days later — core assets sold for around $7M.
Source: SEC / elevenflo / TechTime ($2.5B SPAC valuation via Trine Acquisition Corp Dec 2020, briefly ~$7.5B; Nano Dimension acquisition $179.3M closed April 2 2025; Chapter 11 ~117 days later, core assets sold for ~$7M)
