Zellerfeld raises $30M and scales up 3D-printed shoes in Austin
The footwear startup, which prints shoes without traditional factories, added Series A capital as it deployed its faster next-generation printer locally.
AUSTIN — Zellerfeld, which makes fully 3D-printed footwear without traditional factories, has raised $30 million in a Series A-3 round led by OMR X, according to deal disclosures. The financing brings the company's total funding to roughly $100 million.
The raise lands as Zellerfeld builds out its manufacturing in Texas. The company has deployed a new printer it calls GEN3 — which it says is about three times faster than its previous machine, can print in multiple colors and runs autonomously — as it works toward its goal of producing shoes on demand rather than in overseas mass production. Zellerfeld sells directly to consumers and has collaborated with designers and artists on limited runs of printed shoes.
Why it matters
Domestic, print-on-demand manufacturing is a hard problem that has swallowed a lot of capital, and Zellerfeld is one of the more visible attempts to make it work in a consumer category. Scaling that production in Austin ties the city to a reindustrialization thesis that investors have been chasing — building physical goods in the U.S. with automation rather than cheap offshore labor.
Reported by Next in Austin. Based on reporting from Texas CEO Magazine.
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