Photo via Glowforge.
Photo via Glowforge.

It seems there is demand for Glowforge’s 3D laser printer.

The new Seattle startup wrapped up its 30-day crowdfunding campaign this past Friday and set a new funding record in the process, generating $27.9 million in sales. The previous record was held by Pebble Time, which raised $20,338,986 on Kickstarter in one month.

Glowforge’s printer lets people use raw materials like leather, paper, plastic, fabric, or cardboard and make products with a push of a button. It retails for $3,995, but Glowforge sold the printer for $1,995 during its crowdfunding campaign.

Glowforge CEO Dan Shapiro told GeekWire last month that he was expecting $1 million to $2 million in sales over the month-long campaign. Instead, his new company reached that goal in less than 24 hours.

Dan Shapiro shows off the Glowforge at the GeekWire Summit earlier this month.
Dan Shapiro shows off the Glowforge at the GeekWire Summit earlier this month as GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop looks on.

Glowforge only needed to raise $100,000 to place its factory order, but clearly exceeded that goal, selling the printer to customers from more than 70 countries. Shapiro said he saw orders for the device “every minute.”

“We hoped that our vision of a simple device that could print anything from furniture to handbags to sushi would get people excited,” he said in a statement on Friday. “We had no idea people would be this excited. Now, with the campaign just about over, the only thing that matters to us is delighting our customers with a product that’s even better than they were expecting, as quickly as we can.”

At this month's GeekWire Summit, Glowforge CEO Dan Shapiro showed off a bag he made with the Glowforge 3D laser printer.
At this month’s GeekWire Summit, Glowforge CEO Dan Shapiro showed off a bag he made with the Glowforge 3D laser printer.

The device itself is different from most other 3D printers because instead of making objects out of plastic strands, Glowforge uses a laser to quickly cut and engrave products. Along with smartphone sensors built into the printer, the lasers allow the Wi-Fi-connected device to cut and engrave materials that are curved, uneven, or irregular. Glowforge’s dual cameras also measure the thickness of material to a precision of four one thousandths of an inch.

Glowforge was founded last year by Shapiro, the brains behind the hit kids board game Robot Turtles — one of Kickstarter’s most successful campaigns ever — and fellow Seattle area startup veterans Tony Wright and Mark Gosselin. The company employs 14 people and will ship the Glowforge to customers who pre-ordered starting in the first half of 2016.

Backers of Glowforge include Brad Feld’s Foundry Group and True Ventures, which led the company’s $9 million round in May, along with people like MakerBot co-founder Bre Pettis, former MakerBot CEO Jenny Lawton, Wetpaint founder Ben Elowitz, KISSmetrics founder Hiten Shah, director of open source at Google Chris DiBona, and former Swype CEO Mike McSherry.

Learn more about Glowforge here, or watch the video below.

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