Evolve Additive Solutions Is Shutting Down and Auctioning Its 3D Printers

Evolve Additive Solutions, the Minnesota-based company that spent eight years trying to scale a toner-based 3D printing process for production manufacturing, is winding down operations and liquidating its physical assets. The company has engaged Grafe Auction to sell equipment across its Edina, Rochester, and Minnetonka sites, starting with an online auction closing September 17 at 1pm Central time. In-person previews run the morning of the sale at 7355 Washington Ave S in Edina. October auctions for the other two sites will follow.

The shutdown marks the end of a venture that raised more than $55 million from Stanley Black & Decker, the LEGO Group, Stratasys, and 3D Ventures, and that promised to bring additive manufacturing into the same cost and quality territory as injection molding at production volumes. That promise remains unfulfilled.

What Evolve Built

Evolve's STEP, or selective thermoplastic electrophotographic process, adapted the imaging technology inside a laser printer to build 3D parts layer by layer from engineering-grade thermoplastics. The company spun out of Stratasys in April 2018. Founder Steve Chillscyzn, who held 45 patents tied to the technology, had developed STEP as an internal Stratasys R&D project before the spin-off.

The pitch was ambitious. STEP could produce ABS parts with surface finish, strength, and cost comparable to injection molding at volumes into the hundreds of thousands of units per year. The SVP, or Scaled Volume Production, system that shipped after a $30 million growth round in 2021 represented the commercial embodiment of that pitch. Early demonstrations showed multi-material capabilities, including hard and soft materials printed together in a single build.

Why It Failed

STEP technology represented a genuine technical advance. The precision and speed of production for ABS were genuinely impressive. But the company proved too costly and complex to scale, and it was not sufficiently structured to support a commercialization push at the level required. VoxelMatters, which covered Evolve closely over the years, put it plainly: the technology was incredible, but the business could not bridge the gap from promising hardware to sustainable manufacturing demand.

The pattern is familiar in additive manufacturing. A novel process demonstrates laboratory performance, attracts government and corporate funding, ships early commercial units, and then stalls when the cost of scaling production, training customers, and building a material ecosystem collides with slower-than-expected adoption. Evolve joined a short list of well-funded AM companies that could not cross that chasm.

The Auction Details

The Edina catalog centers on the hardware behind Evolve's STEP platform: Evolve toner-based production units, a Stratasys FDM 3D printer with a portable stand and enclosed build chamber, and quantities of Evolve SVP PA850 toner cartridges and printing material. Supporting equipment includes LMI Technologies Gocator 3D smart laser line profilers, a semi-automatic dual-head powder auger filler and doser, a stainless vibrating powder screen and sifter, and industrial polymer transfer rollers from American Roller Company.

Bidding on the Edina catalog is live now. Auctions covering the Rochester, New York and Minnetonka, Minnesota sites follow in October. Sheldon Svenson is the contact for onsite removal questions at (920) 327-8761. Grafe Auction's general customer service line is (800) 328-5920.

What It Means for Additive Manufacturing

Evolve's failure is a setback for the specific approach it championed, but it does not invalidate the broader goal of high-volume polymer additive manufacturing. Companies such as 6K Additive, which went public on the Australian Securities Exchange in an A$48 million IPO in 2026, and Desktop Metal, which remains in the public markets through Markforged, are pursuing different technical paths to the same end. Stratasys itself continues to push industrial FDM at scale, as evidenced by its recent F870 launch and its expanding GM partnership.

The lesson from Evolve is that breakthrough printing technology is necessary but not sufficient. A company also needs the commercial infrastructure to deploy it, the material ecosystem to support it, and the customer patience to adopt it. Evolve had the first two in limited form. The third never arrived in the volumes required.