If you pay attention to the major innovation in the 3d-printing industry, its practically guaranteed you have heard of Stratasys. These guys have been around since the dawn of 3d-printing.

S. Scott Crump was one of the first innovators of the additive manufacturing technology when he wanted to make a toy frog for his daughter using a hot glue gun filled with a mixture of polyethylene and candle wax. The idea to automate this process by making the toy layer by layer developed into the concept of additive manufacturing.

Ever since then, this company has been buying up intellectual property and signing major deals with big manufacturers such as HP and IBM. Their biggest merger was with Objet in 2012. Objet had some very lucrative patents including the Polyjet Matrix 3d-printing technology. This technology allowed for the use of multiple materials simultaneously to create an object. It’s used in a variety of industries.

Stratasys continued their buyouts with their acquisition of MakerBot in 2013. MakerBot is known for their everyday consumer desktop 3d-printers. These printers were some of the first available to consumers that wouldn’t cost them an arm and a leg.

If you look at the stock prices of Stratasys, you will notice that it only really started to take off in late 2012. Coincidence? Doubtful. With their massive amount of patents and company acquisitions, they have their hands in just about every industry using 3d-printing and scanning technology today. Then considering their massive amounts of capital to buy out competition, it looks like their industry specialties will continue to expand.