Last fall, the Graz startup mything secured 2.1 million EUR in funding. Now the ‘three-sided marketplace for 3D printing’ has launched!

The 2.1 million EUR the Graz startup received last autumn, can be considered a decent investment for the Austrian startup scene. What’s more surprising is that this investment was procured before the launch. Today, mything.com is officially online (the "full, red-blooded version"). Founder Florian Mott, former marketing director of bwin, confidently said, "We will be the international marketplace for local 3D printing in the near future."

On the central platform, product designers, local manufacturers and customers will find each other easily. Products are currently centered around jewelry, gadgets and toys. There are around 800 products made from 40 different materials, and mything earns money through an agency commission. At the heart of the platform is the local production in 3D printing shops alongside this "three-sided marketplace". "Some of them already exist, with a strong upward trend. In the future, they will be just as common as copy shops”.
 

Mott believes that Austria is the optimal starting point with this strongly B2C-influenced model, "We are launching in Austria because we have the proximity and contacts of local 3D print providers and can launch in a manageable market". In the same breath, the expansion plan is already set: "The next step is planned for Germany in the second half of this year". Ultimately, it's about the international market.

Which is - according to recent studies - huge. UPS estimates that the market of local 3D printing will grow to 21 billion USD by 2020. Oxford Economics estimates that by 2050, half of all consumer goods will be produced in local 3D printing. Mott is relaxed when it comes to the declining media hype about 3D printing, saying: "We base our considerations on facts, trends and market developments. Even though media coverage has declined somewhat, the market figures speak in a clear volume. Studies predict a very strong growth of the 3D printing market. Also or perhaps especially in customer groups and fields in which 3D printing currently does not play a major role ".
 

The disruptive potential of the technology is enormous. "The classic production and distribution process - from the design to the arrival of the product to the customer - involved many steps, from transport to storage, taking weeks or months. We manage to reduce this process to a few steps and days, even hours in the future, "says Mott. Investor and Co-Founder Gerhard Pail explained: "Time-saving is accompanied by risk minimization. Whether a product physically travels for 30 days or a single day makes a huge difference. Something can happen in each of those 30 days. Accidents, delays, customs problems and much more. This means speed, vicinity, less risk and lower costs”. Not to mention the reduction in pollution.