The macroeconomic climate may have prompted a cooling-off period for funding. But as Artec 3D’s story shows, it is possible to be a successful scale-up without taking a cent from VC.
3D imaging firm Artec 3D had been around for just two years when the 2008 financial crisis hit. It forced the startup, then based in California, to make a critical decision: seek VC funding in a difficult climate or go to market with their first hand-held 3D scanner.
They opted for the latter and, as founder Artyom Yukhin explained: “We were lucky we reached break-even within less than a year. In 2009, we did more than a million dollars in revenue.”
As the business grew, they considered relocating to Europe where half of their customers were at the time. Yukhin visited Luxembourg in 2010 and was quickly won over by the ease of communication and soft landing it provided for further expansion into the bloc. “I really think it was the best decision,” he recalled.
The serial entrepreneur and investor opened his firm’s European headquarters in a building in Hamm, Luxembourg, where the scanners were designed and built. But the team and demand rapidly grew.
At the start of 2023, Artec 3D inaugurated a new high-tech optoelectronics production site in Senningerberg, equipped with a 300 m² ISO grade 7 cleanroom to produce their high-performance electronics with small components and high frequencies.
“We found the facility when it had not been renovated. So we were lucky to be able to plan it and to build it the way we wanted,” said Yukhin, adding: “We now have two facilities: one office for headquarters and administration at the Da Vinci building opposite the airport and we have the new whole facility in Senningerberg.”
In the medium term, the firm plans to develop another zone for in-depth research.
Artec 3D’s handheld intuitive scanners have been used to make digital replicas for a number of applications including documenting war crimes in Ukraine, creating prosthetics for amputees, and preserving cultural heritage sites.
And the firm is constantly building on the research it developed over the last 16 years, to the point that now it is using AI and deep learning to develop solutions to interpret data generated from its intuitive scanners.
“The problem now is that to transform scans and to compare them with the initial design, it will take months for people to sit and partially manually analyze this data,” Yukhin said, adding: “Automatic comprehension of this data is the next thing. We received absolutely fantastic results.”
Demand for 3D imaging solutions is, meanwhile, expected to continue to grow, driven largely by the need for quality inspection on construction sites and in additive manufacturing.
Artec3D currently counts 100 employees in Luxembourg, a team that is growing thanks to its smart talent strategy. Roles at Artec 3D are highly sought-after because of the firm’s reputation. However, before investing time in obtaining work visas for non-EU nationals, it is challenging to know if a candidate will be the right fit.
“Our goal is to create the first IT hub in Montenegro, on the sea coast,” Yukhin said, adding: “This will create an ecosystem for attracting talented specialists.”
In 2022 Artec 3D opened its talent hub on the coast of Montenegro where work permits for non-EU programmers are processed within weeks. The hub, which currently has around 100 staff, has software developers, mathematicians, computer vision and AI specialists, as well as many other professionals.
“They will gain valuable life and professional experience by becoming part of our 3D technologies team,” Yukhin explained.
Looking to the future, Artec 3D plans to release a new scanner on the market at the end of 2023, or early 2024.
