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MakerBot Industries is a New York City-based company founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to engineer and produce 3D printers. MakerBot builds on the early progress of the RepRap Project. As of April 2015, following a layoff of around 20% of its staff, MakerBot has about 400 employees. ==History== Smith was one of the founding members of the RepRap Research Foundation, a non-profit group created to help advance early research in the area of open-source 3D printers. Bre Pettis got inspired during an art residency in Vienna with Johannes Grenzfurthner/monochrom in 2007, when he wanted to create a robot that could print shot glasses for the event Roboexotica and did research about the RepRap project at the Vienna hackerspace Metalab.〔(Interview in 'Open Design Now', published by Waag )〕 Shot glasses remained a theme throughout the history of MakerBot.〔(CNN about Bre Pettis printing shot glasses at SXSW 2013 )〕 The company started shipping kits in April 2009 and had sold approximately 3,500 units as of March 2011. Demand for the kits was so great in 2009 that the company solicited MakerBot owners to provide parts for future devices from their own MakerBots. Seed funding of $75,000 was provided by Jake Lodwick ($50,000) and Adrian Bowyer and his wife, Christine ($25,000). In August 2011, venture capital firm The Foundry Group invested $10 million in the company and joined its board. On June 19, 2013, Stratasys Incorporated announced that it had acquired MakerBot in a stock deal worth $403 million, based on the current share value of Stratasys. The deal provided that MakerBot would operate as a distinct brand and subsidiary of Stratasys, serving the consumer and desktop market segments. Bre Pettis moved to a position at Stratasys and was replaced as CEO by Jenny Lawton, who in 2015 was succeeded by Jonathan Jaglom.〔 In April 2015, it was reported that in an effort to integrate MakerBot's activities better with those of Stratasys, Jaglom laid off around 100 of 500 employees and closed the existing three MakerBot retail locations.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「MakerBot Industries」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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