Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Project Metalis (Project Metalis)
Reporting period: 2023-07-01 to 2024-09-30
AIONIS d.o.o. is a deep-tech start-up company developing the next generation of metal additive manufacturing machines. With its patented technology, AIONIS d.o.o. aims to revolutionise metal 3D printing by speeding up the process. Our EU funded PROJECT METALIS includes business activities to scale up AIONIS d.o.o.: a) conducting a market research, b) creating an updated business plan to scale-up AIONIS d.o.o. and c) trying to secure an investment to implement the updated business plan. Metal additive manufacturing market includes sales of metal 3D printers as well as metal 3D printed parts, which are already in use in the automotive, aerospace, medical devices, metal tooling and other related industries.
Due to the turmoil in the industry caused by covid-19 epidemic, it was unclear to what extent the sale of metal 3D printers is still relevant, as metal 3D printers' sales dropped during the covid-19 era. PROJECT METALIS' goals were to define the main business growth strategy for AIONIS d.o.o.: should we focus on device sales or solely on providing metal 3D printing services. One of the main goals of PROJECT METALIS was also to evaluate if we can survive as a company in Slovenia (or do we need to change our location), by evaluating the local demand for metal 3D printed parts, which we did during Milestone 1 of PROJECT METALIS. Another main goal was to create an updated business plan for scaling-up AIONIS d.o.o. (Milestone 2). The last goal was to try to procure an investment, so that we can put our business plan into action (Milestone 3).
Due to the turmoil in the industry caused by covid-19 epidemic, it was unclear to what extent the sale of metal 3D printers is still relevant, as metal 3D printers' sales dropped during the covid-19 era. PROJECT METALIS' goals were to define the main business growth strategy for AIONIS d.o.o.: should we focus on device sales or solely on providing metal 3D printing services. One of the main goals of PROJECT METALIS was also to evaluate if we can survive as a company in Slovenia (or do we need to change our location), by evaluating the local demand for metal 3D printed parts, which we did during Milestone 1 of PROJECT METALIS. Another main goal was to create an updated business plan for scaling-up AIONIS d.o.o. (Milestone 2). The last goal was to try to procure an investment, so that we can put our business plan into action (Milestone 3).
We performed 3 main activities: conducting market research (Milestone 1), creating an updated business plan (Milestone 2) and procuring an investment (Milestone 3) to put our business plan into action.
During Milestone 1 we conducted market research and successfully reached 16% of companies we evaluated to be our potential clients. We managed to get expressed demand for metal 3D parts so we can not scale-up AIONIS d.o.o Firstly, we defined a pool of our potential clients and gathered their contacts, composed the questions, got feedback to our questions, then contacted over 1600 companies and successfully gathered the data. We then analysed the gathered data and used it in our Milestone 2-creating an updated business plan.
In Milestone 2 we created an updated business plan. It was established with the outcome of Milestone 1, that there is a local demand for metal 3D printed parts and AIONIS d.o.o. can scale-up by providing 3D printing service to local companies. We used the data gathered in Milestone 1 to create a scalable business model in Milestone 2. The scalable business model was created based on one premise/location with a manufacturing capacity of 50 devices per year and for providing metal 3D printing services to clients. The business model includes lowering prices of metal 3D printers in time. The required investment size to scale up AIONIS d.o.o. was also calculated for use in our next Milestone 3-procuring an investment. Overall, our business plan was written in a form which would be suitable for investors, so that we could share it with potential investors during our work on Milestone 3.
In parallel to Milestone 2 (creating an updated business plan) we started our work on Milestone 3, which was procuring an investment to scale-up AIONIS d.o.o. and put our business plan into action. We prepared and tested our pitch deck during the Business Validation Programme, where we had the chance to get feedback from various experts. We managed to pitch to multiple experts representing investment funds during T2M programme. Our final pitch and jury feedback at the T2M Business Validation Programme helped us to re-evaluate our investment opportunity and put more work into amending our pitch-deck to be even more investor ready.
Parallel work on Milestone 3 continued with creating a database of contacts of our potential investors and generating a one-pager document to be sent to potential investors. We used the online portal Europages to gather our potential investors contacts. The one-pager document was generated, firstly sent to multiple business consultants for feedback, and after the one-pager was complete, ‘Investment Opportunity’ emails were manually sent to over 950 potential investors. We started negotiating with one party and continued to send reminders to others. Eventually, the time for successfully completing Milestone 3 (procuring an investment) was slowly running out, and we decided to put into action our mitigation plan for Milestone 3. Our mitigation plan was stated as ‘building the company bottom-up by providing metal 3D printing services to clients’ and so we spent the remaining funds from Milestone 3 on our 3D printing services. The remaining coaching hours with our EU coach were used for creating another improved version of our business plan. Overall, we are very happy with the outcome of Milestone 3, as we can now scale-up AIONIS d.o.o. by providing metal 3D printing services to our clients.
Outcomes
The outcome of Milestone 1 was highly positive, as we managed to get expressed demand from potential clients and gather all data related to metal 3D printed parts in demand. The gathered data exceeded expectations in terms of possible usage. Overall, the outcome of Milestone 1 was to test the market and evaluate if we can survive as a company in Slovenia, and this outcome was positively achieved.
The outcome of Milestone 2 was also highly positive, as we successfully created a scalable business model for AIONIS d.o.o. and gained business knowledge from our coach and T2M experts which would otherwise be unobtainable to us. . Our business network also grew tremendously. The main outcome of Milestone 2 (creating an updated business plan and setting a scalable business strategy for AIONIS d.o.o.) exceeded our expectations and we are very happy with the resulting strategy and the document itself
The outcome of Milestone 3 (procuring an investment) was also positive. As we put our mitigation plan in action in a timely manner, we can now start to provide metal 3D printing service to our clients -this is the best outcome we could hope for in the given situation. As we managed to get expressed interest from clients for metal 3D printed parts and because we now have equipment that will allow us service these clients, we can now scale-up the company. Overall, the main outcome of scaling up AIONIS d.o.o. was therefore achieved as we can continue to grow our company by providing metal 3D printing service to clients.
During Milestone 1 we conducted market research and successfully reached 16% of companies we evaluated to be our potential clients. We managed to get expressed demand for metal 3D parts so we can not scale-up AIONIS d.o.o Firstly, we defined a pool of our potential clients and gathered their contacts, composed the questions, got feedback to our questions, then contacted over 1600 companies and successfully gathered the data. We then analysed the gathered data and used it in our Milestone 2-creating an updated business plan.
In Milestone 2 we created an updated business plan. It was established with the outcome of Milestone 1, that there is a local demand for metal 3D printed parts and AIONIS d.o.o. can scale-up by providing 3D printing service to local companies. We used the data gathered in Milestone 1 to create a scalable business model in Milestone 2. The scalable business model was created based on one premise/location with a manufacturing capacity of 50 devices per year and for providing metal 3D printing services to clients. The business model includes lowering prices of metal 3D printers in time. The required investment size to scale up AIONIS d.o.o. was also calculated for use in our next Milestone 3-procuring an investment. Overall, our business plan was written in a form which would be suitable for investors, so that we could share it with potential investors during our work on Milestone 3.
In parallel to Milestone 2 (creating an updated business plan) we started our work on Milestone 3, which was procuring an investment to scale-up AIONIS d.o.o. and put our business plan into action. We prepared and tested our pitch deck during the Business Validation Programme, where we had the chance to get feedback from various experts. We managed to pitch to multiple experts representing investment funds during T2M programme. Our final pitch and jury feedback at the T2M Business Validation Programme helped us to re-evaluate our investment opportunity and put more work into amending our pitch-deck to be even more investor ready.
Parallel work on Milestone 3 continued with creating a database of contacts of our potential investors and generating a one-pager document to be sent to potential investors. We used the online portal Europages to gather our potential investors contacts. The one-pager document was generated, firstly sent to multiple business consultants for feedback, and after the one-pager was complete, ‘Investment Opportunity’ emails were manually sent to over 950 potential investors. We started negotiating with one party and continued to send reminders to others. Eventually, the time for successfully completing Milestone 3 (procuring an investment) was slowly running out, and we decided to put into action our mitigation plan for Milestone 3. Our mitigation plan was stated as ‘building the company bottom-up by providing metal 3D printing services to clients’ and so we spent the remaining funds from Milestone 3 on our 3D printing services. The remaining coaching hours with our EU coach were used for creating another improved version of our business plan. Overall, we are very happy with the outcome of Milestone 3, as we can now scale-up AIONIS d.o.o. by providing metal 3D printing services to our clients.
Outcomes
The outcome of Milestone 1 was highly positive, as we managed to get expressed demand from potential clients and gather all data related to metal 3D printed parts in demand. The gathered data exceeded expectations in terms of possible usage. Overall, the outcome of Milestone 1 was to test the market and evaluate if we can survive as a company in Slovenia, and this outcome was positively achieved.
The outcome of Milestone 2 was also highly positive, as we successfully created a scalable business model for AIONIS d.o.o. and gained business knowledge from our coach and T2M experts which would otherwise be unobtainable to us. . Our business network also grew tremendously. The main outcome of Milestone 2 (creating an updated business plan and setting a scalable business strategy for AIONIS d.o.o.) exceeded our expectations and we are very happy with the resulting strategy and the document itself
The outcome of Milestone 3 (procuring an investment) was also positive. As we put our mitigation plan in action in a timely manner, we can now start to provide metal 3D printing service to our clients -this is the best outcome we could hope for in the given situation. As we managed to get expressed interest from clients for metal 3D printed parts and because we now have equipment that will allow us service these clients, we can now scale-up the company. Overall, the main outcome of scaling up AIONIS d.o.o. was therefore achieved as we can continue to grow our company by providing metal 3D printing service to clients.
Our business network grew tremendously due to the PROJECT METALIS. The potential impact of PROJECT METALIS on our future growth is extremely positive, as we now have potential clients, direct business contacts from (metal additive manufacturing) researchers to future business partners and consultants, and our chances in successfully applying for further funding increased. Overall, we gained much more from PROJECT METALIS that was expected. Potential impact on our future growth is clear: PROJECT METALIS enabled us to scale-up.