AngelList Weekly - 3D printing comes to the rescue

AngelList

COVID-19's Impact on 3D Printing

 

 

 

America is experiencing a nasal swab shortage.

Nasal swabs are used for COVID-19 tests, and experts are suggesting the country needs to administer 2-3M tests per week before it can return to normalcy. But, with manufacturing and logistics experiencing serious disruptions... where will we get all these swabs?

3D printing to the rescue.


Voodoo Manufacturing, a 3D printing startup, now makes 50,000 nasal swabs per week, with plans to double output.

Origin pivoted from making 3D printers to manufacturing COVID-19 test kits. A single "Origin One" printer can print up to 1,500 swabs in a single print in under eight hours.

3D printing, at a distance, has seemed like a novelty industry. It's mostly made headlines when someone prints a controversial object, like a firearm. However, 3D printing is really a form of distributed manufacturing. And distributed-everything is having its moment.

3D printing has some benefits over traditional manufacturing techniques: Prototyping is quicker, customizing is easier, and machines can be assembled closer to where the products need to go. Investment in 3D printing can help plug the gaps if supply chains break down again in the future. Any ability to efficiently produce closer to demand will be valuable.

Companies with 3D printers are helping in other ways as well. SmileDirectClub, known for its direct-to-consumer 3D-printed teeth straightening kits, used their printers to ship over 35,000 face shields in a matter of weeks.

3D printing technologies are expensive and seem unlikely to be chosen ahead of traditional manufacturing techniques once supply chains are re-established. Still, 3D printing could play a more significant role in the manufacturing ecosystem moving forward.

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More from last week

Every crisis requires founders to switch between two hats. The defense hat is the one put on immediately after a crisis hits to guarantee survival. The offense hat helps to think through ways to make bold moves and double down when others are pulling back.

Gigi Levy, partner at NFX, shares strategies for switching between offense and defense during a downturn.
The rise and fall of tech companies have inspired countless theories about the drivers of success and failure in the fast-moving world of startups.

Take a look at these eight laws that contain some of the most influential ideas that tech companies use to run operations, design business models, and build products.
Brett Fox, an executive coach, presents best practices for startup leadership during the crisis:
 
  • Be transparent with your team.
  • Over-communicate with your team. Update them every day.
  • Anticipate questions your team is likely to ask.
  • Make plans for your team to work from home indefinitely.
  • Consider unlimited sick time.
  • Only have essential personnel come into the office.
  • Reduce your spending.
  • Make sure you have essential supplies, so you don’t get caught short.

Expect the post-pandemic workplace to shift in the following ways:

 

  • Full digital transformation, supported by a truly virtual workforce.
  • Focus on outputs versus face time.
  • Respect for a work-life blend.
  • Stronger communications.
  • Increased trust, transparency and empathy.

Kristin Wilson shares how remote work will transform our lives:
 
  • We will see a brain drain away from cities for the first time in generations.
  • Fewer people will commute, and traffic patterns will normalize.
  • Housing markets will crash and shift.
  • Increased demand for flexible workspaces over fixed workspaces.
  • The balance of power will shift from employer to employee.
  • Consumptions patterns will shift from material goods to experiences.
  • The global middle class should grow.
  • Traditional universities will lose value.
  • The global financial landscape will change.
  • We will have a global citizenship/taxation system.

Hot startups hiring now 🔥

dYdX - Open trading platform for crypto assets. Explore 5 jobs.
Cue - Reinventing personal calendars. Explore 4 jobs.
Seesaw - Spark meaningful student engagement. Explore 3 jobs.
The Yes - Next generation shopping experience. Explore 10 jobs.

Funding and Acquisitions

Uber led a $170 million investment round in electric scooter and bike rental company Lime. Uber will transition operations of Jump, its own electric bike and scooter division over to Lime. The announcement comes after a rough couple of months for urban transportation. The pandemic-driven global lockdown has reduced demand for scooters and ride-hailing services.
Zoom has acquired security startup Keybase to add end-to-end encryption to video calls, the first purchase in the company’s nine-year history. With in-person dealmaking off the table because of social distancing requirements, the negotiations took place over Zoom video calls.
Waymo has raised $750 million for its self-driving technology, expanding the size of its first external investment round to $3 billion. Waymo CEO John Krafcik noted that COVID-19 has underscored the need for how fully self-driving technology can provide safe and hygienic personal mobility and delivery services.
Covariant, an industrial robotics AI startup, announced a $40 million Series B funding round. The robotics company is building universal artificial intelligence that enables robots to see, reason, and act autonomously in the real world. The funding will help bring its robotic control systems to new industries and create more systems capable of picking, placing, and unloading objects in warehouses.
DispatchTrack, a last-mile logistics platform, has closed a $144 million investment. Consumers are shopping at unprecedented levels online and getting items brought directly to their homes.
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