Online marketplace set to kickstart Australia’s 3D printing industry

A Canberra-based startup is looking to tap into 3D printing’s increasing popularity by connecting designers, local manufacturers and consumers in the one online marketplace.

Co-founder James Antifaev told StartupSmart Made for Me has the largest network of 3D printing professionals in Australia, allowing consumers to find the best products or services for them based on price, location and speed of delivery.

“It’s really being driven by the fact there is not an open platform that connects every step of the value chain from the shopping experience to the design and manufacturing,” he says.

“3D printing is going to be used in a lot of different ways by a lot of different people. And certainly there are a lot of applications that are going to disrupt or improve the customer experience in some way. We’re really aiming to fill that space for independent designers where our marketplace is the fulfilment mechanism as well as the sales channel.”

Made for Me is taking part in Canberra’s Griffin Accelerator program and has launched an early stage beta. Antifaev says the biggest challenge so far has been grappling with the complexities around connecting designs with the right manufacturing options for any given use.

“The process of working with our network of manufacturers and designers in Australia has been challenging because it’s such a wide range of skill sets and knowledge,” he says. “But it is also really fascinating and quite rewarding for us.”

Antifaev hopes Made for Me will solve the problem of having to go to multiple websites in order to find the right option – similar to what Webjet and Expedia do now for airfares.

“The market is still quite fragmented,” he says. “So by having this network and automatically being able to connect designs with the right print options, we are able to solve that problem.”

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