PostProcess blowing past sales goals, raising money and hiring in Buffalo

PostProcess Technologies spent years in “startup mode,” working with early adopters to fine-tune its product market fit.

Now it has reached “scale-up” mode, according to CEO Jeff Mize, as it watches month-over-month sales volume increase more than 50%.

PostProcess is now selling about 100 of its machines each quarter, with the expectation it will increase that number to 125 this year.

Founded by president and CTO Daniel Hutchinson in 2014, PostProcess builds machines that “clean” parts after they’ve been through additive manufacturing. Its business model includes recurring revenue streams in software, service and detergent used in the machines.

The company has raised more than $40 million in startup funding to this point, driven by investor belief that PostProcess will play a key role in the rise of additive manufacturing. The company is now closing on $4 million in bridge funding from existing investors such as ProcessTec, a group led by Chuck Lannon, and New York Ventures, Empire State Development Corp.’s investment arm. Grasshopper Bank, a digital business bank, extended the company a line of credit. PostProcess expects to raise a larger round of funding later this year.

“We’ve moved out of startup mode and into scale-up mode,” Mize said. “The key now is operational excellence and execution, ensuring we have a quality reputation and establishing a new bar for industrial equipment.”

Mize said the company sees particular opportunities in software, especially as additive manufacturing moves from prototyping to production-level processes. He said PostProcess is on track to reach profitability by third quarter 2023 and to reach $125 million in annual sales in the next four years. The company works with most of the top global corporations in technology, automotive, defense and medical.

PostProcess has 75 employees and is headquartered in the Tri-Main Center in Buffalo, where it has laboratory and office space. The company expects this year to add an assembly operation in the Tri-Main Center, though most of its manufacturing will be done through vendors. PostProcess also has an office in Nice, France.

Mize said the company’s headcount will likely reach 85 people this year.

The company has moved from early adopters to the early majority, according to Mize, pushing its overall numbers to more than 400.

“There are an abundance of opportunities for us, and the key is figuring out the right things that allow us to continue driving topline growth and healthy gross margins,” Mize said. “We want to take those margins and reinvest them to pour fuel on our hottest fires, which are software and chemistry development.”

PostProcess is the seventh local company to confirm a growth-oriented capital raise this year. The other ones are Circuit Clinical ($29 million), HELIXintel ($3 million), ShearShare ($2.3 million), Patient Pattern ($2 million), BetterMynd ($1 million) and AireXpert ($125,000).