Medical 3D printing firm, axial 3D, has raised $3 million to support the company’s expansion in to the United States through a funding round.

The funding round was led by Imprimatur Capital Fund Management, an international science and technology investor, and supported by a US investment consortium consisting of a number of surgical angel investors.

axial 3D plans to create roles and expand within the US market by opening an office in the region. The company also announced plans for more jobs within the base in Belfast in order to support the growth of the organisation and ensure continuous innovation.

There’s a particular focus on expanding the company’s machine learning team, which builds automated algorithms that aim to ease access to medical 3D printing for hospitals.

Daniel Crawford, CEO at axial3D said: “The closure of this investment round marks an important milestone for our company. It will accelerate our growth within our expanding markets and enable us to bring our 3D printing solution to more healthcare organisations, helping them to drive down costs, improve compliance and ultimately, enhance patient care.

“Continuous innovation is crucial to bring the best solutions to market and keep up with customer demand. Following our recent collaborations with Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare (TMH) and University Hospital Basel, we will focus further on the North American and European markets.

“This includes opening an office in the USA, and recruiting more talent into our team, particularly to grow our machine learning capability. This will enable us to continue to innovate and find new ways to bring 3D printing on-demand to the entire healthcare sector.”

Christopher Rumana, neurosurgeon and charmain of the board at TMH, has been a user of axial3D’s medical 3D printing service since 2018 and is part of the cohort who are now investing in the company.

Rumana added: “axial3D has built a scalable, accessible platform for clinicians to access 3D printing without the capital expenditure or manpower traditionally required.

“Having been in the medical field for over two decades, I have seen how technology improves patient care. With TMH being a user of axial3D’s service, our own patients have been positively impacted by the use of 3D printing.

“I want to see this service adopted in more healthcare institutions across the USA so that everyone who needs it can benefit from the technology.”

axial 3D is currently developing an automated 3D printing solution for the healthcare sector which aims to advance surgery standards and efficiency.