Materialise has introduced that the possession of its eyewear enterprise is being transferred to its administration workforce.
The settlement, in line with a press launch, was made as a part of the Belgian additive manufacturing firm’s steps to ‘sharpen its portfolio and to additional focus capital and sources on its core focus areas.’ It follows an identical resolution earlier this 12 months to promote its RapidFit enterprise, which specialises in customized 3D printed jigs, fixtures, and quality-control options, primarily for the automotive and manufacturing industries, to its administration workforce. The corporate believes this new setup for each firms will ‘finest help their subsequent part of progress.’
The monetary phrases of the transaction weren’t publicly disclosed however Materialise stated it can retain a minority stake within the newly shaped eyewear firm. It additionally confirmed that each one staff presently supporting the eyewear enterprise will transition to the brand new firm shaped in reference to the switch.
Materialise CEO Brigitte de Vet-Veithen commented, “Following the sale of our Rapidfit enterprise on the finish of March of this 12 months, now we have now additionally reached an settlement to switch our eyewear actions to the enterprise’s administration workforce. We imagine these decisive portfolio actions will permit Materialise to additional focus capital and sources on its core focus areas, whereas enabling each Rapidfit and Eyewear to function in a setup that may finest help their subsequent part of progress.”
Materialise says it expects to recognise impairment costs within the second quarter of 2026 associated to the transaction.
Materialise has been on the forefront of 3D printed eyewear purposes for over a decade, having produced a number of hundred thousand frames for round 80 completely different manufacturers, per an interview with TCT again in 2024. The corporate has established partnerships with eyewear manufacturers like Hoya, Impressio and Hoet to ship novel customisation experiences to customers at retail, in addition to luxurious names like Porsche and McLaren, which have leveraged its know-how for celebratory collections.