Jeff Immelt, former chief executive of General Electric, has joined the board of 3-D metal printing startup Desktop Metal, bringing the knowledge gained from pushing the industrial behemoth into additive manufacturing.
Immelt, 62, who retired as chairman of GE last October after stepping aside as CEO the previous June, is currently a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, which first invested in Desktop Metal in 2015. The Burlington, Massachusetts-based company is an innovator in 3-D metal printers, and is currently pre-selling its production machine that can mass produce 3-D-printed metal objects and parts to manufacturers of all stripes. While 3-D printing has long been used for prototyping, its real promise is in its ability to mass produce large volumes more efficiently and at lower cost.
"He's a huge believer in additive," says Desktop Metal CEO and cofounder Ric Fulop of Immelt. "It's really great to have someone who has been around the block before."
In a statement, Immelt, who also recently took on the role of chairman at cloud-based health company Athenahealth amidst a shakeup there, called Desktop Metal a "trailblazer across the additive manufacturing landscape," and said that he looked forward to "contributing to [its] future direction and growth."
Immelt, who took over from legendary CEO Jack Welch in September 2001, has been hailed by some and hated by others for his tenure at GE. The industrial conglomerate he led for 16 years is in a tough spot today; its shares have fallen from $40 when he took over to below $14, and his successor as CEO, John Flannery, has been selling off pieces of the business.
But under Immelt's leadership, GE pushed hard into 3-D printing. It used laser-based techniques to make a fuel injection nozzle for its jet engines that combined 20 parts into a single one and weighed 25% less, creating both fuel efficiencies and cost savings. Then, in 2016, it bought two European 3-D printing companies, both of which print metal parts for aircraft and other industrial components, for $1.4 billion.
Desktop Metal relies on a different technology that is substantially faster and cheaper than the laser-based techniques. Since its founding three years ago, Desktop Metal has snared a total of $277 million in venture funding as its valuation has soared past $1 billion, according to Pitchbook. In addition to NEA, its investors include Ford (whose chief technology officer Ken Washington is also a board member), GE Ventures, GV (formerly Google Ventures), BMW, Techtronic Industries and Kleiner Perkins, among others.
