First Aussie 3D printing firm debuts on ASX

WA-based 3D printing firm Aurora Labs commenced its first day of trading on the ASX yesterday as the first Australian 3D company to do so.

The company managed to raise $2.8m through its initial public offering, and opened on the day at 54 cents per share, which dropped to a low of 44 cent per share before climbing back to close at 49.5 cents each.

The company is currently headed up by co-founder and managing director David Budge and executive director Nathan Henry.

 Australian Printer spoke to Budge who says the idea to start a 3D printing company came to him one day. 

“The company started two years ago when some friends and I were building rocket motors and we decided to make a 3D metal printer,” Budge explains.

“After that I said to co-founders Jess Snelling and Wil Crisp, ‘would you guys be interested in creating a start-up company’, and they said yes.”

Two years later, Aurora Labs is now manufacturing 3D printers for sale to the global market.

It is currently in the production stage with a small format 3D printer valued at $50,000, and has created a prototype for a large format 3D printer.

Budge says he was surprised by his company’s performance and is satisfied by the outcome after listing.

“We did investigate other avenues for raising capital which were not successful so we decided to go down the IPO route to successfully raise capital as a small company of Australia,” he says.

“Certainly everyone was very surprised at how well it has done. I think we have a very interesting production and an enormous blue sky as far as the company is concerned.”

At the drupa trade show, 3D printing was touted as an up and coming market for traditional printers to potentially grasp.

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