Draft:Filabot

History

Filabot was founded in 2011 by Tyler McNaney, a student at Vermont Technical College from Milton, Vermont.^[1] McNaney conceived the company as a way to convert waste plastic into affordable 3D printing filament, closing what he described as a materials loop between plastic waste and manufacturing feedstock.^[2]

McNaney launched a Kickstarter campaign that reached its $10,000 goal within one month and ultimately raised $32,000.^[1] He pre-sold 67 units through the campaign and used the proceeds to begin production in Barre, Vermont, leaving college to run the company full-time.^[3] The company initially operated from a granite shed in Montpelier before relocating to a warehouse facility in Barre.^[1]

In 2013, Filabot expanded its product line to include its own branded filament, produced on the Filabot Core system, and introduced the Filabot Wee, a compact home extruder kit.^[4]

By 2016, the company had grown to seven full-time employees and had designed eleven extruder models. That year McNaney received the Rising Star award from Vermont Business Magazine and the Best Small Business Award from the Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation.^[3]

In 2018, McNaney was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Manufacturing and Industry category.^[1] At that time, the company's customers included NASA, the Pentagon, LEGO, Xerox, Dow, and Intel, as well as research institutions including MIT, Yale, Harvard, and Brown University.^[2]

As of 2022, Filabot employed 26 people and operated design facilities in Barre and assembly operations in Rutland, Vermont.^[2] The company also donates filament to the e-NABLE community, which produces prosthetic hands for people in need.^[2]

Products

Filabot's product line consists of benchtop filament extrusion systems for research, education, and small-scale industrial use. The company's focus is on miniaturizing industrial polymer extrusion processes for laboratory and makerspace environments.^[2] Products have included the EX2, EX6, and EX3 extruder systems, along with spoolers, air-cooling equipment, and accessories.

The company serves two primary customer segments: users recycling post-consumer or industrial plastic waste into filament, and research and development laboratories creating custom polymer formulations not available commercially.^[1]