Lockheed, Raytheon Invest in 3D Printing Firm

Fortify, a full stack materials science and digital manufacturing company, has received a strategic investment from Lockheed Martin Ventures and RTX Ventures the venture capital arm of Lockheed Martin Corporation and of Raytheon Technologies, respectively. The funds will be used for process and material development of additive manufacturing of RF (radio frequency) devices.

“Lockheed Martin develops and invests in critical, breakthrough technologies to help our customer solve for what the future holds,” says Chris Moran, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures. “Lockheed Martin has been working closely with the Fortify platform, and we are excited to be on their team of investors.”

“The high-frequency communication space around RF is exploding with growth. This is not only in Aerospace, but also in commercial 5G, Satellite Communications, autonomous vehicle sensors, and IoT,” says Lawrence Ganti, Fortify CEO. “Each of Lockheed Martin's business areas have been adopting additive technologies for mission-critical systems at an aggressive rate. We've built and tested cutting-edge antenna and radar systems that are great examples of how additive can create unique value in Aerospace, Defense, and Communications.”

Fortify's Digital Composite Manufacturing (DCM) platform enables the manufacturing of complex structures with \mechanical, electrical, thermal and electromagnetic properties. Business units across Lockheed Martin Corporation, including Aeronautics, Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS), Missiles and Fire Control (MFC), and Space, are engaged to leverage the Fortify platform.

“Lockheed Martin has been a great partner and is continuing to accelerate Fortify's growth into the advanced RF and electronics applications segment,” says Josh Martin, chief product officer and co-founder at Fortify. “The ventures team and the technical fellows have been helpful in providing direct feedback on how we can effectively navigate the A&D (aerospace and defense) sector. The programs we have executed on have directly influenced our product development through specific materials qualification and functional part testing.”

Lockheed Martin Ventures joins a list of investors, including In-Q-Tel (IQT), the Department of Energy (DoE), Accel Partners, Cota Capital, Neotribe, Prelude Ventures, Mainspring and OceanAzul. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.