Materialise NV

Materialise is the oldest independent additive manufacturing company still standing, founded in Leuven in June 1990 by Wilfried Vancraen and Hilde Ingelaere as a rapid prototyping bureau. It listed on Nasdaq in 2014 as MTLS, also trades on Euronext, and employed 2,556 people at the end of 2025. It reports through three segments that behave like three different businesses, and describing only one of them would misrepresent the company badly.

Materialise Medical is now the largest by revenue, growing 15.4 percent to 134.2 million euros in 2025. It sells medical image based analysis, planning and engineering software along with patient-specific devices. The Mimics platform converts CT and MRI data into usable anatomical models, extended by 3-matic Medical for device design, Mimics inPrint for printable models, Mimics Flow for case collaboration, and the Mimics Enlight family for structural heart and cranio-maxillofacial planning covering LAAO, TMVR and CMF procedures. PROPLAN CMF supports virtual craniofacial planning. On the device side it makes aMace personalised hip implants for acetabular reconstruction, Glenius glenoid implants, patient-specific surgical guides for knee, shoulder and osteotomy procedures, Standard Plus solutions for trauma and reconstruction, HeartPrint cardiovascular models, and the Phits and Footscan lines for orthotics and gait analysis.

Materialise Software is the smallest segment at 40.9 million euros in 2025 but arguably the most influential, because its products sit inside other people's factories. Magics is the long-established build preparation package, supported by the Magics SDK for scripted automation, MiniMagics as a free viewer, 3-matic for lattice and texture work, and the Build Processor family that translates a job into machine-specific scan paths. Above those sits CO-AM, a platform tying order management, manufacturing execution, quality tracking, shopfloor telemetry and analytics into one workflow. Acquisitions have filled that platform out, with Link3D bringing workflow and MES capability and Identify3D adding encryption, distribution control and traceability for digital part files.

Materialise Manufacturing runs the actual printing, in polymer and, through the ACTech subsidiary in Germany, in metal casting and low-volume complex metal parts. The segment has been squeezed by weak prototyping demand and has deliberately shifted toward series production, and aerospace and defense is where it has reported commercial wins. Materialise holds EASA Part 21.G Form 1 accreditation for manufacturing flying parts, EN 9100 certification for polymer parts and, since February 2025, for metal parts as well, plus Airbus AIPI compliance and qualified Airbus materials. It has produced upwards of 500,000 flying parts for aircraft OEMs, suppliers and MROs, typically cabin interiors, cockpit components, brackets, ducts, cable guides, production tooling, ground support equipment and aftermarket spares.

Placing Materialise accurately means resisting the urge to call it a 3D printing bureau. It is a software company, a service bureau and a medical device manufacturer at once, and the healthcare business is the larger half. Its defense relevance is real but indirect, running through certified aerospace part production and through software that manages and secures distributed manufacturing.