Hello, welcome to the Stratasys and Desktop Metal Combination Conference Call and Webcast. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. You may press star one at any time to be placed into question queue. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Yonah Lloyd, Chief Communications Officer and Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Yonah.
Thank you, Kevin. Welcome everyone. We appreciate you joining us on short notice to discuss today's announcement that Stratasys and Desktop Metal will combine to create a premier global provider of industrial additive manufacturing solutions. Before we begin, I would like to call your attention to our legal disclaimers here on slide two. With that, today I am joined by Ric Fulop, Chairman and CEO of Desktop Metal, and Dr. Yoav Zeif, CEO of Stratasys. Yoav will kick off today's call by discussing the highlights of the transaction and our excitement for the future as a combined company. Ric will provide an overview of the combined company's capabilities and significant opportunity ahead. There are substantial financial benefits to this combination. Yoav will discuss our expectations for synergies and combined financial profile. We will open the call to questions.
As you may have seen in our press release, Stratasys today reaffirmed the guidance provided on May 16, 2023, when the company reported its first quarter earnings results, including its medium-term financial forecast. Desktop Metal also reaffirmed full year 2023 guidance provided with its first quarter earnings results on May 10. I will now turn the call over to Yoav. Yoav?
Thank you, good afternoon, everyone. This is an important milestone for Stratasys and Desktop Metal. We are excited to create a next generation additive manufacturing company, delivering industrial polymer, metal, sand, and ceramic solutions from design to mass production. This compelling strategic combination delivers significant value for shareholders. In light of how we have grown and developed our technologies, as we discussed this transaction with Desktop Metal, it was clear that the combination of our companies would significantly accelerate our growth trajectories, creating a uniquely scaled industrial additive manufacturing company. This is a landmark moment that will transform our companies and help us to drive long-term sustainable growth. Together, we will have a diversified and wholesome product portfolio and one of the largest global go-to-market networks in three-D printing. Our combined materials library is highly differentiated.
Our more than 3,400 patents granted and pending, representing years of investment, will enable us to continue to drive innovation for our customers. We believe there is significant potential to unlock additional value by providing customer access to recognizable brands, backed up by premier customer support capabilities. This transaction also creates the opportunity to realize approximately $50 million in annual run rate cost synergies and approximately $50 million in annual run rate revenue synergies across the business by 2025. Combined, we expect to deliver approximately 10%-12% of adjusted EBITDA margin in 2025. The combined company will unite the polymer capabilities of Stratasys with the complementary industrial production leadership of Desktop Metal brands to serve the evolving needs of customers in the fastest growing verticals. I know the industry very well.
Stratasys and Desktop Metal have watched each other innovate and grow over the years. We have gotten to know the Desktop Metal team even better while evaluating this opportunity, and those discussions have led us to this milestone announcement today. This combination presents our shareholders, customers, and employees with a unique opportunity, with the potential for robust value creation. We are bringing together complementary products and technologies that cover a wide range of industry verticals and use cases. Stratasys brings our position in polymer three D printing, an exceptional strength in aerospace, automotive, consumer products, healthcare, and dental verticals. Desktop Metal brings its leadership in mass production of metal, sand, ceramic, and restorative dental three D printing solution. Let's turn to slide six for an overview of the transaction.
The combination of Stratasys and Desktop Metal is structured as a stock for stock merger, valued at approximately $1.8 billion. After the transaction closes, Desktop Metal stockholders will receive 0.123 ordinary shares of Stratasys for each share of Desktop Metal Class A common stock. This represents a value of approximately $1.88 per share of Desktop Metal Class A common stock, based on the closing price of a Stratasys ordinary share of $15.26 on May 23rd, 2023. This structure will enable both companies to participate in what we believe is significant upside potential as a larger, stronger combined company. Following the closing of the transaction, existing Stratasys shareholders will own approximately 59% of the combined company, and legacy Desktop Metal stockholders will own approximately 41% on a fully diluted basis.
We look forward to working together toward the closing of the transaction, which is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2023, subject to approval by both companies' shareholders and other customary closing conditions, including the receipt of certain governmental and regulatory approvals. After the close, I will serve as CEO of the combined company, and Ric will be the chairman of the board. We will have an experienced and dedicated team leading the combined company. I know this team well from both sides, and we all share a common objective of delivering for our stakeholders. For Stratasys customers and shareholders, this combination will enable us to expand use cases, grow revenue, and enhance profitability. For Desktop Metal customers and shareholders, this is an opportunity to combine best-in-class additive manufacturing technology with our top global distribution capabilities.
Together, we will be one of the only profitable public three D printing companies in the world. I will now turn the call over to Ric to discuss the opportunity in more details. Ric?
Thanks, Yoav, hello, everyone. We'll go into more detail into the combined technological and R&D platform and global go-to-market network in the coming slides. I want to briefly highlight the significant size of this opportunity. As shown on slide 7, the added manufacturing capabilities of our combined company will directly serve a rapidly growing market opportunity that is projected to reach more than $100 billion by 2032. While we project significant growth in the AM market, the overall manufacturing opportunity is much, much larger. We have seen 10x growth in 3D printing in the past decade through penetration of prototyping and tooling use cases. Even as an $18 billion market, as I noted earlier, it still only represents about 0.1% of global spend on manufacturing.
We're just scratching the surface and are very excited what we can achieve together with Stratasys as the industry continues to evolve towards mass production using additive manufacturing. The combined company is expected to offer customers end-to-end solutions, from designing, to prototyping, to tooling, to mass production and aftermarket operations across the entire manufacturing life cycle, providing an opportunity to drive growth. As shown on slide nine, the combination also shifts our revenue mix towards high growth verticals across a broad product portfolio. More than half of the pro forma combined company is expected to be derived from revenue of end use parts, manufacturing and mass production. End use parts are the fastest growing segment in the additive manufacturing space, with more than 29% compounding annual growth rate expected through 2027.
This compared to polymer research and pre-production CAGRs that are under 14%, which will become a smaller part of the Stratasys mix as we move forward. Turning to slide 10. This transaction establishes a very unique scaled additive manufacturing company. Our breadth of offerings and strong technical talent and expertise will help us win growth, while we also benefit from an overall TAM expansion. Pro forma, we're gonna be one of the largest companies in our industry, with attractive positions across critical additive manufacturing technologies and segments. Together, we're gonna build an even more resilient offering with a diversified customer base across industries and applications in order to drive long-term sustainable growth. Slide 11 is an overview of our comprehensive suite of combined offerings, which are broad and complementary, and reflect some of the top brands in our industry.
Our combined capabilities span materials, technologies, and use cases, is especially notable, is the further expansion into mass production that Desktop Metal provides for Stratasys across metals, polymers, ceramics, sand, carbon fiber, and wood. We see a significant growth opportunity to drive outsized growth in dental restorative mass production. Through our strategic partnerships, leading materials, and world-class team, we're very well positioned to capitalize on the $35 billion growth opportunity in dental mass production, as shown on slide 12. We also have a significant opportunity in metal, carbides, and ceramics. We have the industry's leading global position in binder jet. That's the fastest 3D printing process for materials like metals, technical ceramics and carbides. We have the largest and growing customer base in this segment, with over 1,200 customers.
High penetration in mass production of carbide cutting tools, leadership in three D printing of nuclear materials via binder jet, best-in-class technology for mass production of technical ceramics, enables us to bring true high volume mass production to the metal additive manufacturing space. Both Stratasys and Desktop Metal have existing applications in production that includes spare parts, foam solutions, large parts in polymers, in aerospace and automotive, industrial replacement of injection molding tools, and accurate parts, as you can see on slide 14. Together, we expect to transform the polymer industry and bring it into a world of mass production. Finally, as we go to slide 15. The combination of our technologies and distribution capabilities are gonna drive significant benefits for our stakeholders. We're gonna have an extensive global go-to-market network, with enhanced market access and recognizable brands to our customers.
Fitting for our company of our combined offerings and reach, we're gonna have truly global footprint and a presence in over 65 countries. With more than 400 support personnel and application engineers, we will be backed by premier customer support capabilities to ensure that as we deliver innovation to our customers, we can make our customers successful. Our innovation will be driven by a powerful combined R&D engine, with substantial investment and firepower. Together, our companies invested nearly half a billion dollars. Let me say that again, half a billion dollars in cumulative R&D spend in the past four years. That's a significant investment for innovation, and it's going to remain a key area of us going forward. Bolstered by our deep technical expertise, we're very well positioned to deliver on the promise of our existing technology and create new products to serve this expanded customer base.
As a combined company, we're gonna have one of the largest and most experienced R&D and engineering teams in this entire industry. Finally, on slide 17, we have a very large customer base across industries, materials, and applications such as aerospace, automotive, medical and dental, consumer products, and heavy materials. We have a total of more than 27,000 customers at closing, and that are gonna drive significant recurring revenue from consumables. Now I'm gonna turn it over to my partner, Yoav, so he can continue the presentation.
Thank you, Ric. Turning to slide 18. The combined company is expected to generate approximately $50 million in annual run rate cost synergies by 2025. We will achieve this by leveraging relationship with existing customers and our leading go-to-market channels. This includes COGS saving, driven by efficiencies from optimized sourcing strategies and organizations. We also see opportunities to optimize our technology infrastructure. We expect to realize savings by combining our shared internal infrastructure. Of note, these are cost savings over and above what Desktop Metal has already announced on a standalone basis. On slide 19, the result of this combination is a strong pro forma business, with robust financials that will hit the ground running. We expect the combined company to generate $1.1 billion in 2025 revenue, and target 10%-12% adjusted EBITDA margin in 2025.
The synergy opportunities are significant and contribute to an attractive combined financial profile, as evidenced by the improved pro forma adjusted EBITDA margin. Together, the companies at approximately $437 million of cash and cash equivalents as of the first quarter of 2023. This transaction accelerates the combined company financial flexibility through a well-capitalized balance sheet to drive future growth. We are confident this combination will drive substantial value for our shareholders, employees, and customers. Our shareholders will benefit as we execute on this compelling opportunity to capture the value of AM for mass production, paired with the cost and revenue synergies and attractive financial profile. Employees will have significant career development opportunities, and will be part of a combined company that remains committed to innovation and customer success.
Our customers will benefit from our full end-to-end solution, superior value with innovation driven by our unmatched team. There is tremendous value potential here. We are confident that as a combined company, we will be positioned to capture it. We hope you share our excitement for the future of the combined company and what we can achieve together. With that, we'll open the call to your questions.
Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to be placed in the question queue, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing star one. One moment please, while we pull for questions. Our first question today is coming from Greg Palm from Craig-Hallum. Your line is now live.
Hey, thanks for taking the questions here. Congrats on the announcement. I guess my first one is, you know, what do you think it means for the industry overall? It's clearly one of the most important announcements today, and I'm just, you know, wanted to get your thoughts on the broader impacts to additive industry, maybe whether this could help accelerate, you know, overall adoption rates of the technology in general.
Thank you, Greg. It's Yoav. It's a transformation. We are reshaping the industry. I'm here for 3.5 years, and I'm struggling with the position of additive globally. I'm coming from manufacturing. There are so many manufacturing challenges today: sustainability, the ability to have mass personalization, the logistics, whatever, onshoring. So many challenges. When I stepped into Stratasys, I said, "Okay, three D printing is a solution," because we can mass personalize. We can print what we were want, where we want. We can replace a production line with a file and a printer. We have great materials, but as you, we all know, we are the only profitable company in this industry, so something doesn't work.
What doesn't work is the fact that we, as an industry, fail to deliver quality of part, cost per part, and a real workflow. Those are the facts. Then we ask ourselves, how we can solve it? We started to do it in polymers, but it was clear to us that we need also to have a metal offering, and we need to keep innovating. Desktop Metal is the real deal. Together, we are going really to check the boxes to make sure that we are going to customers, there is no silver bullet, but we will deliver on the values. You combine the establishment of Stratasys with the innovation and the vision of Desktop Metal, it's a win.
I understand that, and that's good to hear. I guess, you know, my sort of follow-up question is, you know, I think what probably I and a lot of others, I know this call is focused on, you know, the transaction with Desktop Metal, but what I think a lot of us are probably wondering is, given the requirement of shareholder approval and in light of this morning's tender offer news, you know, how are you thinking about the risk, whether this deal can actually get done? Maybe you can just offer some perspective there as well.
Thank you, Greg. We believe in this transaction. This is the best alternative for our shareholder to create value. Nothing is, here is an accident. Nothing here was done, you know, just for the sake of whatever. We are working on this deal for more than a year, and we believe that this is strategic, both for the two companies and for the industry. In terms of the Nano and the Nano offer, of course, I cannot relate to it. It's very clear that our board, which is committed to its fiduciary duties with our advisor, we look at it very seriously, and we come back with his answer.
Okay, fair enough. I'll hop back in the queue. Thanks.
Thank you. Next question is coming from Ananda Baruah, from Loop Capital. Your line is now live.
Hey, yeah, good morning, good afternoon, guys, and thanks for taking the questions. Congratulations.
Thank you.
On the combination here.
Thank you.
I guess you touched. Yeah, you're welcome. You touched a little bit on, you know, combined capability of the companies a few times in the prepared remarks, but I was wondering if you could talk to what the opportunities for technology sharing and collaboration could be across the various teams, you know, at the core technology level, maybe at the core IT level as you go forward, what some of the leverage points there might be and how they might show up, you know, in the offerings and in the marketplace. Thanks.
Thank you. This is Ric. I'm super excited about not just the business synergies, but the technical synergies here are significant. This is a merger that is gonna drive accelerated innovation between the two companies. I think, we have materials on the DM side that are gonna really help improve and push the capabilities of Apogei into more of a mass production capability in the future. We've got technology synergies on the software side between the two companies. There's significant go-to-market synergies as well. These technical teams are primarily in non-overlapping segments of the added manufacturing space. This allows us to cover a broader portfolio of solutions to our customers, and so that is, that is significant. Obviously, we have 7,000 customers that are now-
going to be introduced to a distribution network that's larger, much larger than ours, that, is a powerhouse in the industry. We also at DM, have a very large key account team that can help the high-end systems from Stratasys penetrate, in the manufacturing floor where you do mass production. This is a fantastic combination. I can't imagine a better, partnership, between two companies. It's highly synergistic across all fronts.
Thank you. Just to add, we could identify, and it was already demonstrated, those, you know, amazing technical synergies already through the due diligence, because our teams met. We had a deep dive into the technology, super deep dive into the technology, and we found out that the flow of ideas can generate so much innovation and so much efficiency and effectiveness. Only through the due diligence. Let's put this aside for a minute. The reason we are with Desktop Metal, because there are technological synergies, because we selected high speed technologies based on integers. If someone in this industry know jetting, it's Stratasys. If someone in this industry know high speed binding, it's Desktop Metal. Combine the two. Everything is going here with printheads. We know printheads, we know the electronic around printheads. You put this together, I'm very optimistic.
That's super helpful. I really appreciate the context. I'll get back and then keep it there. Really appreciate it.
Thank you. Next question is coming from Shannon Cross from Credit Suisse. Your line is now live.
Thank you very much, and congrats on the deal. I'm curious about, is there a breakup fee involved with this? I know it's a merger, but I was just wondering now that, you know, it's apparent that Desktop Metal is, you know, is potentially up for acquisition, is there any kind of, I don't know, agreement in that scheme? I have a couple others.
I think this is a public to public merger with standard customary terms. You know, nothing out of the ordinary. I think our goal is to get this transaction completed, both parties are committed, can't look, I mean, I can't wait to start doing work together. We're excited.
Same here.
Okay. I guess, when I add the... I'm just trying to think about how you, how you've built up your revenue assumptions for, you know, 2025 and beyond. As you're thinking about it, are there any dyssynergies? Because when we add our numbers together, we kind of get there just with the two companies, and it seems like, you know, there's obviously the revenue synergy, synergies you're talking about. Maybe if you could be a little bit more granular in terms of specific areas you think you're going to be able to sell more, whether it's on metal or polymers or, I don't know, anything dental, if you want to talk about, you know, specific verticals and increased opportunity. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Shannon. Thank you for the question. You know us very well, and you know the infrastructure of Stratasys. We have much more capacity than we are currently leveraging. From the get-go, almost 3.5 years ago, I said, "Manufacturing, manufacturing." Manufacturing is growing between 25%-30% every year. We know it. We have the infrastructure to push it, but we had to build a portfolio, and we did a great job on the polymer side, but we had to find the metal partner that will take us there. Also to make sure that we are closing gaps that we have in dental, both in restorative and in aligners. It's so complementary, almost no parallel offering.
If you combine this together, it means that there are no dyssynergies, and there are synergies on the infrastructure. There are synergies on the infrastructure, both on the operations and the SG&A. As you know us as well, we are not building anything here, top-down. Everything is bottom-up, by geographies, by offering, by machine, and then we came to this calculation of 10%-12% adjusted EBITDA margin in 2025. It's a joint plan. Okay, just between of us, I'm more optimistic on the revenue side than what we put. For us, it's very important, and you know, also our track record over the last three and a half years, we put a number, we pass it, we touch it.
We want to make sure that we're also delivering it on this $1.1 billion. I believe that, we all believe that the revenue synergies are bigger because of our infrastructure, the global one.
Okay. Just how do we think about where you might have competing technologies like EnvisionTEC versus Origin? Are there ways to leverage the technologies that each company has or the production capabilities that they each have? I'm just wondering. I don't think there's a ton of overlap on your portfolio, but there are some.
Yeah, I'm happy to take this. Look, the overlap, I would say, is minimal, and it's probably in the most competitive segment that we've got. We have positioned our EnvisionTEC products since the acquisition to be almost exclusively Dental or large format DLP for high volume industry. While Origin is sort of in the medium format, DLP segment for production. There's very little overlap. If you look at even on a revenue basis, I would say it's minimal as percentage of our overall revenue. It is a market where we have a heritage. We are the inventors of DLP with ETech. This is an industry we created. Today, there's many people that do DLP, but we bring a lot of heritage, competence, and so does Stratasys.
Origin is a fantastic technology, I think we have best-in-class solutions across our portfolio and, you know, better solutions to help our customers be successful in going to production. I'm very, very excited by the combination and everything we're going to be able to do for our customers to make it more successful.
Great. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Next question is coming from Jim Ricchiuti from Needham & Company. Your line is now live.
Hi, thank you. I'm wondering if the cost synergy targets, any assumptions with respect to possible changes in either the Desktop Metal or the Stratasys product portfolio, just in terms of, you know, as you review the hardware categories as a result of the combination, are there some that may now be viewed as non-strategic for the combined company on a go-forward basis?
Not at all.
Hi, Jim.
Hi.
Our offering is very strategic. That's why we selected Desktop Metal. There are so many synergies across the different portfolios, both on the technical side, but also in terms of offerings and being the one-stop shop for our customers on the same platforms, which is amazing, and we heard it from our customers. As for the synergies, again, as we shared it in the slide, significant amounts from COGS, both on operation and size, significant amount from G&A and some from sales and marketing. Innovation for us is key. I want to emphasize it.
A follow-up question. Rick, you alluded to the strength of the materials business for the combined company. I'm wondering how we should think about this materials business on a pro forma basis and maybe, again, just how you see that relative as you guys talk about that fiscal that 2025 target.
Yeah. I want to let Yoav answer the pro forma question. Technically, we have incredible technology with our photo-induced phase separation polymerization materials portfolio, and Stratasys has incredible technology on the photopolymer side with their Covestro acquisition. It is highly complementary. We've got a really, really, really good print platforms. Even outside of photopolymers, we've got the largest library of materials on the metal, ceramics, carbides side of the market, and Stratasys is an industry-leading portfolio on thermoplastic side. Across the board, I think we've got a really highly differentiated material, science-driven innovation here that is difficult to replicate, has a huge moat. There's a very large IP portfolio component on it, and as you know, materials are the recurring revenue component that's at the heart of the innovation in the three D printing business.
We have a, you know. This really turns it into a fantastic, highly complementary and capability that's actually going to make our customers more excited and more successful with three-D printing in mass production.
Yeah. Maybe just to add on the, how it impacts the pro forma. You cannot reach 10%-12% EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin without a strong material portfolio and sales. Material, service, software has to come together with the hardware. This is what we are doing it for three and a half years. We have more material, we are selling more material, that's the only way to finance the innovation and to be profitable with decent EBITDA margin.
Got it. Thank you. Congratulations.
Thank you. As a reminder, that's star one to be placed in the question queue. Our next question is coming from Brian Drab from William Blair. Your line is now live.
Hi, thanks for taking my questions, and congratulations on the announcement.
Thank you.
Yeah, you're welcome. I haven't followed Desktop Metal as closely as I would if I formally covered it, but I guess there's some questions that I think a financial analyst has to ask here just to get a little more clarity. I mean, it looks like Desktop Metal had about $190 million in cash and investments and operating loss in 2022 of $233 million, use of cash and operating activities, $182 million. I know there's a lot of cost-cutting opportunity, but you know, that combined with, I think I saw $498 million goodwill impairment last year.
It's just that it feels like, I want to be more excited about the acquisition, you know, those numbers aren't, you know, they're not that promising on the surface. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit to maybe inspire a little more confidence, because it feels like Stratasys is acquiring a company that needed a lifeline.
That's absolutely not accurate, Brian. Let me set the record here. DM, as currently constituted, has been continually decreasing its cash burn on a quarter-to-quarter basis, and is projected to be EBITDA breakeven in the fourth quarter of this year. We're still committed to that goal and reaffirm that. We have taken a lot of costs from M&A activities that we did in 2020. We've taken all that out, we are very well into our process to hit our targets, believe we will hit them on the schedule that we laid out to Wall Street.
Any synergies here are over and above the ones that were described before in our conference calls, which I encourage you to listen to. If you go and again, look at our cash burn, it was, you know, dramatically lower, approximately half of what it was Q1 of the previous year. It's projected to be in the single digits in the second half of the year on a quarter-to-quarter basis, as we get closer to profitability and fully consolidate the facilities that are burning our costs. I am bullish that we're going to be able to continue to execute that plan on schedule, as previously stated.
With regards to the goodwill, you know, when we, when we did some of the M&A early on and our stock was at very high valuations, and we used stock for those transactions, as you know, there's counting tests that you have to hit. When, you know, that is really triggered by the stock price of our company, it's a non-cash event, and it is something that the auditors make you do as you kind of close a quarter on a particular stock price. It got nothing to do with the value of those assets or our view of the discounted cash flow that those are going to generate in the future. Anyway, I could go on and on, but I'll let my colleagues take it over.
Thank you, Ric. I would like to add one thing, Brian. Greg started with a question about how we will change the industry. I want to take a step back. The problem of this industry, you know, we have hundreds of companies. Only in metal, there are more than 200 companies. No one has scale. We want to scale, we want an inflection point, we want to be in manufacturing, but at the same time, we don't have the scale to do it, not the resource, nor the scale to do it. It's all about scale. We can, as an industry, wait for this scale, but we need to be a power out in order to be able really to scale. That's what we are doing here.
We are shortening the time period to be heavily into manufacturing and to lead this industry into manufacturing. The scale is solving all those challenges that you mentioned, all of them. Without the scale, we would never be in 10% to 12% EBITDA margin. Never.
Thanks. Can I just ask, I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what you're acquiring, and what Desktop Metal is composed of. Now, I know that there's, you know, $210 million or so in revenue in 2022. You know, like maybe $40 million or $50 million was related to the EnvisionTec business. You know, I guess like $70 million-$80 million was the run rate for ExOne, maybe $30 million-$40 million for Dental Arts, and, you know, that leaves, like, maybe $50 million from core Desktop Metal. I'm just wondering, like, what that $50 million... $50 million I know is my number. I don't know what the exact number is.
I, if you-
How does that break down across the production system, shop system, and other systems? I'm curious if you can disclose anything there. Thanks.
I mean, we don't break out our revenue by segments that way, but why don't we have a call whenever is good for you, and we could walk you through our model and how we're growing our business.
Okay. Sounds good. Thanks.
Great.
Thank you. Next question is coming from Josh Sullivan from The Benchmark Company. Your line is now live.
Hey, good morning. Just, you know, following up on that comment about so it's all about scale. I'm wondering if you have any idea of, you know, how impactful customer interest was a factor in the combination. You know, are customers communicating a combination of your capabilities would increase adoption? Any specific examples you have, you know, is the combination more on that future product flow and the cost dynamics you're talking about?
This is a great point. You know, Stratasys is a larger industrial customer base, and DM is going to help introduce that customer base to a broader set of technology, have a much larger go-to-market capability than DM has. Conversely, we have also a key accounts capability that can be very helpful for them to penetrate a different segment of the manufacturing floor. I think that... It is going to be extremely helpful. I mean, I think customers look at who they're doing business with when they look at a strategic element in a company, and especially if it's part of their production capabilities. I think that this is only going to be seen as a very, very positive.
We're going to have a much larger customer support and application engineering capability, I believe one of the largest in our industry. I think that we'll be able to respond to customer needs faster than other companies. I think this team is committed to stay working together to make this transaction successful. We are looking at this not just as managers, but also as shareholders of the business. We feel this is the best for stakeholders. It's also the best for shareholders. We are excited about the possibilities of making customers more successful with this transaction.
I think you'll see a lot of innovation, a lot of cross-sell, a lot of technology that can be leveraged across the platforms that are going to make customers more successful. I am super excited about what this means for the future and can't wait to have a call like this in five or 10 years and show you how this was a seminal moment in our industry.
Definitely. Just to add to it, I always believe the best is to ask the customer. If you don't know something, ask the customer. In the process of strategically analyzing what's the best match for Stratasys, then when strategically analyzing Desktop Metal, we talked with customers and they told us, "We want Stratasys there together because it makes you both stronger partner to really take the risk and stepping into any manufacturing." It's not simple at all, what I'm saying. Many companies are having concerns to take this step and transform production lines because the other side is not strong enough, but together we'll be significantly stronger. This is huge. The second thing is about the one platform, the one-stop shop. We have the largest, I would say, also, the most user-friendly operating system in our industry, the GrabCAD.
We're going to put everything on this, plus the software, the innovative software that Desktop Metal has. Suddenly you have a software offering, which makes the life of the customer much easier. We heard from the customers, this was, by the way, the customer analysis, was a pillar in our decision.
Got it. Then is this combination enough scale to achieve those, you know, those dynamics you're talking about? Are there other elements that you might see down the road that would be needed to kind of complete the thought process?
No, I think we are very, very excited. We have a lot to work, a lot to do here, with what we've got. We have, like, extremely, good, bones in this, in this combination, I think we're gonna create something, incredible that will forever change the AM industry, for much better.
Thank you for the time.
Thank you. Next question is a follow-up from Greg Palm from Craig-Hallum Line, is now live.
Yeah, thanks for taking the follow-up. Maybe kind of a two-part question. Maybe I'll ask in two separate questions. Yoav, as I think back when you joined Stratasys and sort of the thought of making Stratasys a leader in polymer, as you kind of think back on that and the combination with Desktop, which, you know, does polymers, but also has a lot of exposure in metals and ceramics, I guess, sort of what changed from that initial thinking? I guess the second part of that question is there a certain technology from Desktop Metal that you're maybe especially excited about on the non-polymer side?
Thank you, Greg. I guess you know me by now, probably 14 or 15 quarters. I don't do anything on the spur of the moment or shooting from the hip. Everything here is strategic. When I started the journey with Stratasys and with this great teams that we have here, we put together a strategy. We communicated the strategy to the market. It was a very clear strategy. We said, "Stop the bleeding on our core technologies, then become leading player in polymer," which means practically that you sell more, you have a higher share in different segments. To make sure that we are in use cases, on the same slide, there was metal. We said, we need to focus because if we go also to metal, we not have enough scale in polymer.
We created the focus, but we knew all the time that we need the metal. The reason that we stopped producing metal and putting R&D on metal was that our metal was not differentiated. We start stepping and checking the boxes. We stop the bleeding, we are growing both in FDM, PolyJet. We acquired printing technologies, almost triple our addressable market. We start introducing significant use cases like the TrueDent, the denture, the fashion, et cetera. It, to be honest, it was faster than we planned. We reached this situation where we need the metals, but we would not willing to compromise on a metal which is not differentiated. Those are great technologies out there with laser, and they are very accurate and are great technologies, but they are not differentiated. The only high-speed manufacturing differentiated technology is metal binder jet.
That's what makes me so excited, because we searched, we looked around, we asked the customers, and this technology is highly exciting because we're going to transform many, many different industries. It's very hard to do it. Desktop Metal, with their holistic approach of not just investing in the printer, but investing in the software and investing in the sintering process and connecting all of them, this is differentiated. You, when you put a differentiated industrial manufacturing technology of metal together with Stratasys, which has a significant position in polymer, going more or less to the same customers, this is a win. I'm excited about this technology.
Got it. Okay, I guess my last question is just, it feels based on the commentary that, you know, you almost feel like consolidation is definitely needed. It's, you know, just from a scale standpoint, it sounds like it's a major underlying reason here. As you look further ahead, and I'm thinking more, you know, post-close and whatnot, I mean, do you feel like the combined company can be a platform for additional acquisitions? Is that something that you intend on making, especially considering it should have a pretty strong balance sheet?
Look, I would say this is going to make our industry healthier. Scale is the most important thing in reaching a high level of profitability. We have a core competency and a very experienced team that is able to look at the right opportunities and evaluate them from a strategic lens, probably before other people realize that something is going to be a critical technology or area of the market. We have a vision combined of how this industry is going to evolve over the next decade or two, that I think is proprietary and unique. We want to build this company through profitable organic growth, but we're also going to look at key strategic opportunities that we think can help us really continue to differentiate our portfolio and our platform to make our customers more successful.
Exactly, and just to add to it, if I may. Both companies has a track record of integration. We acquired five company Stratasys over the last three years. We integrated all of them. None of them is sitting somewhere and is not part of the one Stratasys. That's what makes us profitable. Otherwise, we would not be there. We have the track record, but I have core belief, everything is about focus. That's why we started focusing on polymer. It's all about focus. We will take this track record and capabilities and focus on the integration. We will be the best platform to do many, many other things. The focus now is on integration, capturing the synergy we are going to deliver to our shareholders.
Appreciate it. Taking all the questions. Thanks.
Thank you. Next question is a follow-up from Shannon Cross, from Credit Suisse. Please hold. Your line is open.
I just had a quick question. Thanks. I just had a quick question on metal. You know, is there any capability technology that you have at Stratasys from your prior investment in metal that can be leveraged within DM's technology portfolio? Is this just purely going to be replacing what you have?
Thank you, Shannon. If you remember, I don't know if you remember, but we acquired Riven, AI company. This is a perfect technology for high-speed manufacturing in additive. We actually acquired it because we needed it for our sub-technology, because we want to make sure that we have a great first print and that we can close the loop. I think it will have a great contribution to the metal technology. By the way, the sub-metal is already there in terms of the best sintering simulation software, no doubt. Adding our capabilities will definitely help. As I see in metal, this is the bottleneck, controlling the sintering.
I think that, building on what Yoav said, there is a lot of IP and capabilities that Stratasys from their past activities that are also applicable to future products that we can develop together. We're very excited by how these two things can come together. We've got large frames in powder bed that go all the way to 1,800 liters, which is far, far better than other companies in the market. We've got the highest speed binder jetting solutions. We've got scale in inkjet, which is very, very critical. There's lots of synergies here from a technological platform and operational and product roadmap point of view.
Great. Thank you very much.
Thank you. We reached the end of our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over for any further closing comments.
Thank you very much for joining us, and we are looking forward to update you on how we are capturing value and creating value to our shareholders.
Awesome. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference and webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.