EXCLUSIVE: Shapeways CEO Highlights How Small Cap 3D Printing Could Be An NFT Play

A small cap company that operates in the 3D printing space could be a play on the growth of non-fungible tokens.

What Happened: Twitter user KingTutSpacs unveiled a link to NFT printing with 3D printing company Shapeways Holdings Inc SHPW. The post highlights some connections between Shapeways and NFTs including being the platform of choice for several of the largest NFT projects.

Shapeways offers a 3D printing marketplace that allows users to upload 3D printable files. Shapeways then prints the objects for the customer, a process which has led to over 21 million items being delivered to more than 160 countries worldwide.

The NFT Angle: Several tweets from Lux Capital founder Josh Wolfe were highlighted in KingTutSpacs’ post.

“He implies that NFTs can potentially be integrated to be made as 3D models for owners,” KingTutSpacs said of a Nov. 16 tweet from Wolfe.

“Shapeways x NFTs? Can see merit in exclusive digital BITS tied to exclusive 3D print files made as NFTs and only unlockable or tuned into ATOMS via code for certain hardware/printers,” Wolfe tweeted.

Lux Capital is a large investor in Shapeways and Wolfe serves as the Chairman of Shapeways.

Examples are highlighted in the twitter thread of Shapeways working with Larva Labs on printing Meebits and also with the CyberKongz team on printing their NFTs.

After a long back and forth, optimizing and rearranging, we can finally release ready to print 3D models for you to download! 🔥

Naturally we wrote a new blog post on our medium to walk you through the process of ordering a printed VX for yourself! 🍌

👉 https://t.co/XeZMFwezEB

— CyberKongz (@CyberKongz) November 21, 2021

“We used Shapeways to print our Meebits,” Larva Labs said in a post.

CyberKongz also selected Shapeways as the name it listed in its guide for its NFT owners on how to get a 3D model of their NFT.

“Shapeways offers a variety of different materials and color options. For our models, we used the online service Shapeways.com,” CyberKongz said in a post.

One of the most popular NFT projects of all time is Bored Ape Yacht Club, which highlighted 3D models being part of its recent roadmap update. Shapeways has not yet been named as a partner, but is mentioned in the Twitter thread.

Shapways investor deck lays out that their software API was “built with integration in mind,” which could lead to more partnerships.

An NFT exchange platform is part of Shapways website but is currently listed as unavailable and not updated.

Related Link: Shapeways Lands SPAC Deal, Announces Desktop Metal Partnership 

Shapeways Comments, What’s Next: Shapeways could become a big player in the NFT 3D model printing business, according to the company.

“This is a significant opportunity and this use case is a perfect example of what Shapeways was built for,” Shapeways CEO Gregory Kress told Benzinga.

Kress highlights digitizing the end-to-end production process and using industrial grade additive manufacturing technology.

“This allows us to efficiently produce low volume production and deliver high quality physical parts back to our customer.”

Kress confirmed to Benzinga that Shapeways has supported several NFT projects.

“We are seeing an uptick in requests and use cases as NFTs have gained traction in the market.”

Shapeways allows NFT holders the ability to have a digital copy and physical copy, Kress highlighted.

“Right now, Shapeways focus is on supporting the NFT owners.” he added. "We are having interesting conversations with several of the major players in the space on how we can co-develop solutions for our joint customer bases.”

Shapeways made headlines again this week when it tweeted to NFT marketplace OpenSea.

“Hi there! We should talk. The #NFTCommunity seems to have a need for #3dprinted #nfts, talk soon?” Shapeways tweeted.

@opensea, hi there! we should talk. the #NFTCommunity seems to have a need for #3dprinted #NFTS 😎

talk soon?

— Shapeways (@shapeways) December 6, 2021

Price Action: SHPW shares were up 2.55% to $3.62 on Tuesday. Shares have traded between $3.47 and $12.81 over the last 52 weeks.