Existing investors bet big on growth of domestic additive manufacturing.
The Riddell SpeedFlex Precision Diamond helmet, which includes a customized, 3D printed helmet liner made with Carbon’s additive manufacturing technology. (IMAGE: Carbon.)
Most of the big funding announcements you hear about these days include venture capital’s favorite acronym, ‘AI,’ or the more buzzwordy ‘agentic,’ which makes the latest announcement from Silicon Valley-based Carbon all the more heartening.
The additive manufacturing startup has just raised $60 million in new funding, led by its current investors Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake, adidas, Baillie Gifford, Madrone, and Northgate.
If you’re playing “One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others)” then you might have noticed adidas as the odd one out on that list, but there’s a good reason it’s there. The sportswear company has been working with Carbon for nearly a decade, scaling additive footwear production to millions of components, including the fully 3D printed Climacool series.
Indeed, sportswear is a major market for Carbon, with football helmets produced using the company’s technology ranking first in NFL/NFLPA laboratory testing the last six years in a row. According to the company, the football helmet manufacturer Riddell is “significantly scaling” its Carbon 3D printed pads across multiple helmet lines at both the high school and college levels. Other sportswear manufacturers that have been getting into the game with Carbon’s tech include CCM, Schutt, and VICIS. Carbon also states that six of the top ten riders in the 2025 Tour de France used saddles produced with Carbon technology.
“It’s an exciting time for Carbon,” said Phil DeSimone, CEO and cofounder of Carbon in a press release. “We have built a remarkable portfolio of products and a network of trusted suppliers, production partners, customers, and collaborators who share our vision. With this latest round of investment, we’re in a good position to expand what’s possible in digital manufacturing and redefine how entire industries bring ideas and products to market.”
“We believed in Carbon’s mission from the very beginning,” said Jim Goetz, partner at Sequoia Capital in the same release. “Carbon’s print technology, proprietary resins, and design expertise – along with their proven success across multiple industries – position them to lead and collaborate in shaping the next era of digital manufacturing in the United States.”
This latest round of investment puts Carbon among the top funded additive manufacturing startups in 2025. Together with the company’s statement that it’s close to achieving cashflow-positive-operations, this demonstrates that additive manufacturing still has rising stars, which is good news for the industry as a whole.
