What Happened to Velo3D?

Velo3D merged with JAWS Healthcare Innovators Acquisition Corp in October 2021. The company made advanced metal 3D printing systems for aerospace, defense, and energy applications. Serena Williams was listed as an investor.

The technology was genuinely impressive — Velo3D's Sapphire printers could produce complex metal parts that traditional manufacturing couldn't. Customers included SpaceX, Honeywell, and other blue-chip industrial companies.

But the metal 3D printing market grew far more slowly than projected. Manufacturers were cautious about adopting additive manufacturing for production parts, and each Sapphire printer was expensive, limiting the customer base.

The stock collapsed from $11 to $0.12 as investor enthusiasm for industrial SPACs evaporated. Velo3D faced delisting warnings. The technology may eventually prove transformative, but the SPAC timeline was wildly unrealistic.