3D Printing Startup TOffeeAM Raises £1M In Seed Funding

By Mirianna la Grasta | @mirilagrasta

London-based startup TOffeeAM has secured £1 million in seed funding to further develop its design software for 3D printing.

The startup, which is run by researchers in the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College London, optimises product designs for 3D printing. They’re currently working on developing better software solutions to maximise the efficiency and the performance of components in 3D printing machines.

The latest funding round was led by IQ Capital, alongside the Royal Academy of Engineering and Imperial College London’s Techcelerate program, and it will help the startup hire new engineers, researchers and staff to expand the company’s engineering capabilities. The new funds will also support the company’s growth and promote the acquisition of new clients.

“We are at the beginning of an exciting journey, and this funding will help drive our growth and the wider use of this transformative technology across a variety of industries,” said CEO and co-founder of TOffeeAM Francesco Montomoli.

TOffeeAM, which was founded in 2019 as an Imperial College spin-out by Dr Francesco Montomoli, Dr Marco Pietropaoli and Dr Audrey Gayman, has already worked with clients like Baker Hughes, GE Aviation and a Formula 1 racing team. The young company has so far received major industry prizes, including the Amazon AWS Programmable 2018, the Amelia Earhart Fellowship and the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship.

They believe that developing efficient and high-performing solutions for 3D printing designs is essential, especially for clients coming from the aviation and automotive industry, where creating the ideal, optimal design for a mechanical component is often complicated.

Apart from optimising 3D-printed components, the startup also works on advancing whole systems and designs, by reducing the total number of parts and increasing pliancy. The company thinks they can offer solutions that are 40% more efficient than competitors’, and which can be produced 20 times faster.

“The combination of technical innovation and customer understanding TOffeeAM has achieved since inception offers an outstanding example of the benefits of translating university research to industry,” commented Brijesh Roy, Seed Investment Manager at Imperial College London.