materials scienceGraveyard archive2018–2025

9T Labs

9T Labs was the ETH Zurich spinout that came closest to turning continuous-carbon-fiber 3D printing into a real series-production process — and it still went bankrupt. Founded in 2018 by Martin Eichenhofer, Chester Houwink and Giovanni Cavolina, the company built the Red Series, a platform that paired an additive printhead laying down continuous carbon fiber with a compression-molding Fusion module and Fibrify design software, promising structural composite parts up to twice as strong as titanium at a fraction of the weight. It raised roughly $21.5 million across a seed round and a $17 million Series A, drawing backing that included 3D-printing maker Stratasys.

Years active

2018–2025

Total raised

$22M

Peak headcount

11-50

An ETH Zurich answer to composite tooling

9T Labs was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich by Martin Eichenhofer, Chester Houwink and Giovanni Cavolina, with a thesis that continuous-carbon-fiber composites — the material of choice for the highest-performance parts in aerospace, medical and sporting goods — were locked behind slow, tooling-heavy manual layup. The company's answer was to make composites as accessible as metals by printing them. Rather than chase consumer or prototyping markets, 9T Labs aimed at series production of structural parts, betting that engineers wanted the strength-to-weight of carbon fiber without the cost and lead time of traditional composite manufacturing.

The Red Series and Fibrify

9T Labs' production platform, the Red Series, combined three pieces: an additive printhead that deposited continuous carbon fiber and polymer into a near-net-shape preform, a Fusion compression-molding module that consolidated the preform into a dense, void-free part, and Fibrify design software that let engineers place fiber along a part's specific load paths. The pitch was parts up to roughly twice as strong as titanium and far lighter, produced without traditional layup tooling. It was one of the most technically credible attempts to industrialize continuous-fiber 3D printing, and it attracted attention from established additive players — Stratasys was among the backers.

Runway, not technology, ran out

9T Labs raised roughly $21.5 million in total — a seed round followed by a $17 million Series A announced in early 2022 — to move the Red Series from a working platform toward volume adoption. That capital was never enough to bridge the gap to a market that was slower to standardize on composite AM than the company had projected. Structural composite parts have long qualification cycles in aerospace and medical, and the sporting-goods volumes that could have carried the business did not materialize at scale fast enough. The company burned through its runway before reaching self-sustaining revenue.

Bankruptcy in Zurich, rescue as Neocarb

On November 3, 2025, the District Court of Zurich opened bankruptcy proceedings against 9T Labs AG, and the company was placed into liquidation. Swiss precision manufacturer Biwi SA, based in Glovelier, acquired the assets out of bankruptcy — including roughly 40 machines and the patent portfolio — and relaunched the platform under the brand Neocarb, presenting it publicly for the first time at Watches and Wonders 2026. Biwi's leadership framed the failure squarely: 9T Labs 'did not fail because of a defective technology but because it was ahead of a still immature market.' The rescue kept the IP and the machine fleet alive in Switzerland, with Biwi planning a dedicated technology center in Glovelier by 2027.

What worked, what broke

What worked

Built the Red Series, one of the most technically credible platforms for turning continuous-carbon-fiber 3D printing into a series-production process rather than a prototyping novelty.
Developed Fibrify design software that let engineers place continuous fiber along a part's load paths and drive the additive and molding steps from a single simulation-to-manufacturing loop.
Raised roughly $21.5 million including a $17 million Series A, and drew strategic backing from 3D-printing maker Stratasys.
Produced structural composite parts pitched as up to twice as strong as titanium at a fraction of the weight, targeting aerospace, medical and sporting-goods applications.
Left a technology and machine fleet valuable enough that Biwi SA rescued it out of bankruptcy and relaunched it as Neocarb, keeping the ETH Zurich innovation alive in Switzerland.

What broke

The end-market for structural composite additive manufacturing matured far more slowly than the company projected, with long aerospace and medical qualification cycles delaying volume adoption.
Roughly $21.5 million in total funding was not enough runway to bridge the gap between a working platform and self-sustaining production revenue.
Series-production sporting-goods and industrial volumes that could have carried the business did not materialize at scale fast enough.
As a hardware-and-materials company selling into conservative, slow-qualifying industries, 9T Labs faced a structurally long path to revenue that outlasted its capital.
Biwi's own diagnosis: the company was ahead of a still-immature composites market — a timing failure rather than a technology failure.

Sources

Obituary authored Jul 2, 2026 via Sonnet 4.5 + web_search.

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