Formlabs Board Shuffle Brings Former Apple Executive Dan Riccio In as Advisor

The board changes

Formlabs announced on August 12 that Dan Riccio, Apple's former Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, has joined as a strategic advisor and personal investor. Riccio spent 26 years at Apple, overseeing the design and production of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro. He retired in November 2024.

Alongside Riccio's arrival, founder Max Lobovsky moves from CEO to Chairman of the Board. He will remain CEO. Chief Product Officer Dávid Lakatos becomes President and joins the board. Co-founder Natan Linder steps down from the board after 15 years but stays on as an advisor. Board member Rob Willett, former Cognex CEO, is increasing his stake alongside Riccio.

Why Apple hardware matters here

Riccio's expertise is not in 3D printing. It is in scaling hardware from prototype to hundreds of millions of units. Formlabs is trying to do something similar, albeit on a much smaller scale. The company sells SLA and SLS printers to professionals, dentists, and increasingly to manufacturers. Its revenue exceeds $250 million annually, and it is the largest professional 3D printing company founded since the 1980s.

The board changes are clearly preparation for something bigger. Bloomberg reported on August 7 that Formlabs is in early talks with advisers about a potential IPO that could raise roughly $500 million. The company was last valued at $2 billion in a 2021 SoftBank-led round. Bringing in Riccio and restructuring the board gives the company the operational credibility it needs if it goes public.

The industrial push

Formlabs has been pushing hard into industrial applications. Its Fuse 1+ SLS system competes with traditional powder bed fusion machines at a lower price point. The Form 4L targets large-format SLA for tooling and production. Adding an Amazon supply chain veteran, Nadia Shouraboura, as Lead Director signals that Formlabs expects to manufacture and distribute at scale.

Whether the IPO happens this year or next, the message is clear. Formlabs is done being a Kickstarter story. It wants to be a public manufacturing company.