Intel, Practica back CGTrader

Practica backed the company via its Practica Venture Capital fund, which held its final close last month on its target of €15.7m. The fund received an €11m commitment from the European Investment Fund via its Jeremie Holding Fund for Lithuania.

Investments in the 3D printing space are becoming more commonplace within Europe's venture capital industry. Last month saw Chrysalix SET, Munich Venture Partners and Filsa Capital invest in Luxexcel Group, a Netherlands-based developer of optical 3D printing technology, and the North West Fund for Venture Capital inject £860,000 into UK-based 3D printing company FDM Digital Solutions.

In December, Paris-based Sketchfab, an online publishing platform for 3D files, received $2m in a round led by Balderton Capital.

Balderton also backed Dutch 3D printing production platform 3D Hubs in August last year – around the time that PMV invested in Rapidfit, a Belgium-based 3D printing specialist for the automotive industry.

Previous funding
Lithuanian venture capital firm Practica first invested in CGTrader in 2012, supplying the company with €180,000 in capital via its €6m Practica Seed Capital fund.

Company
Vilnius-headquartered CGTrader was founded in 2011 and currently employs 10 staff. The company operates an online marketplace for computer graphics and 3D printing, designed to allow 3D artists to sell and share their designs.

CGTrader claims to have a digital library of 3D models totalling 45,000, while it says it amassed more than 30,000 new users in 2013 alone. At the start of 2013, the company claimed to have 1,000 users and around 8,000 3D models in its library.

People
Marius Kalytis is the CEO and founder of CGTrader. Petras Miciunas is a partner at Practica, while Marcin Hejka is Intel's managing director for eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

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• Topics
• CEE
• Expansion
• Consumer
• Lithuania
• Intel Capital