Sky’s the limit (literally) for AM Craft, the team who is aiming to redefine the aerospace industry's manufacturing process using 3D printing technology. Our recent investment in AM Craft fits our ethos of supporting ambitious teams targeting massive, unconventional market opportunities and introducing unique solutions to critical problems.
The aerospace sector is vast - a global fleet of 25,000 planes, which, over 50-60 year lifespans, require numerous interior updates. Replacements are costly and require custom parts, which creates real issues in an industry with stringent safety regulations. It’s then no surprise that the aerospace interior components market is currently valued at $24.8B and growing at an 8% CAGR.
With 10 years of 3D printing under their belt, founders Didzis and Janis wondered whether this technology could be a cheaper and more sustainable answer than more conventional bulk-production. Here’s how AM Craft is addressing the industry's challenges:
- Streamlining Supply Chain: The traditional requirement for large orders in aerospace manufacturing leads to inefficiencies, slow lead times, and excess stock. AM Craft's 3D printing approach significantly reduces these constraints, offering faster and more flexible production capabilities.
- Bridging the Certification Gap: Despite the presence of 3D printing since 2013, its adoption for certified production has been slow due to high certification costs and time. AM Craft is pioneering in overcoming these challenges, offering certified, cost-effective, and efficient production solutions.
What makes AM Craft a really BAD* idea
What AM Craft is doing differently is providing value through a comprehensive solution for the airline industry delivering certified, customizable, and sustainable aviation parts. Their customers are household names like Finnair, Airbaltic, and Etihad. Their marketplace model, leveraging a decentralized manufacturing network, not only positions them as a leader in scalability but also creates formidable barriers to entry as they expand. One of the team’s biggest achievements has been overcoming initial skepticism from industry back-benchers and achieving industry safety certifications.
How we evaluated AM Craft
We evaluate startups on four key aspects, and AM Craft was an obvious choice:
- Team: 3.5/4 (50% weight): AM Craft's founders demonstrated exceptional domain expertise and a smart go-to-market strategy that creates a natural MOAT over time.
- Market: 4/4 (20% weight): The company targets a high-value market with a significant barrier to entry and a clear need.
- Product/Traction: 3.5/4 (15% weight): AM Craft has laid a solid foundation and envisions a comprehensive production platform.
- Distribution: 3/4 (15% weight): The company has established strong industry relationships, evidenced by 47 signed LOIs.
Total Weighted Score: 3.52/4
💡 Artis Kehris, founding member of BADideas.fund on backing AM Craft:
Fasten your seat belt, AM Craft is taking off
Looking ahead, AM Craft plans to expand their sales force and form new technology partnerships, positioning themselves to capitalize on their market potential and bring their vision to life: transforming the future of aircraft manufacturing.
*All unicorns were once BAD ideas - bad on the outside, genius on the inside - and we know that true winners find opportunities where others give up. That’s why we created this angel investing syndicate - so we can invest in ideas that might seem bad to others, but we know could become the next unicorn. If you’re a founder from CEE with a BAD idea and see a fit with BADideas.fund, apply. If you have a startup in mind for BADideas.fund, please refer them - referral incentive applies.
BADideas.fund is an early stage angel syndicate, providing €50K-€100K funding for CEE startups, led by founders & operators. Among members/investors - founders and operators, who’ve been building such companies as Bolt ($1.3B funding), Vimeo ($450M), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M), Pipedrive ($90M), Apollo.io ($151M), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Whimsical ($30M), Lokalise ($56M), Deel ($679M).