SpaceX's Favorite 3D Printing Company Is Our Latest 10X Idea  | | Luke Lango | If Michael Jordan told you that that some up-and-coming high school player was going to be the next big thing in basketball, would you listen? What if Tom Brady told you that some college quarterback was going to be as good as him one day… would you listen? You probably should listen. Because, as the old saying goes, it takes one to know one – and as legends in basketball and football, Jordan and Brady know exactly what it takes to dominate a sport. So, if they're "bullish" on a prospect, there's a really good chance that prospect will pan out… Same thing goes in the business world. If a leading technology company with a history of breakthrough innovations, voices confidence in the underlying tech of a smaller, up-and-coming technology company, that's a very positive indicator that something special is going on at that smaller tech company. By the same token, if a leading, tech-focused venture capital firm with a long history of big exits, invests big in a small, up-and-coming tech firm, that's a very positive indicator that this small tech company has what it takes to make it big. With Velo3D – a small, $2 billion 3D printing company that is going public through a merger with Jaws Spitfire Acquisition Corporation (SPFR) – we have both. SpaceX – the leading rocket company in the world – is a huge Velo3D customer and investor, and even tried to buy out the company recently. Why? Because Velo3D's underlying support-free metal printing technology is cutting edge. SpaceX's head of additive manufacturing said that Velo3D is "at least 5 years ahead of any competition." Meanwhile, Bessemer Venture Partners – the VC firm that was an early investor in Twilio, Pinterest, Shopify, LinkedIn, Yelp, Twitch, PagerDuty, and DocuSign – is a lead early investor in Velo3D, too. In other words, with Velo3D, we have a small tech company that both the world's leading rocket-ship company and one of the world's top VC firms thinks is a big winner. We're not dumb enough to ignore those votes of confidence. And that's why, today, we are adding Velo3D stock to our model portfolio as our latest potential 10X investment idea. The 3D Printing Revolution Longtime readers know that we are very bullish on the 3D Printing Revolution. In a nutshell, we think that once-niche, expensive, and slow 3D printers, are having a "moment" – and that, thanks to significant technological advancements, these machines are ready to redefine how the world makes things. To understand why, we need to answer two fundamental questions: - What are the upsides of 3D printing, versus current manufacturing processes?
- If they're so great, why haven't 3D printers already been adopted by everyone?
The first question is fairly easy to answer. The upside of 3D printing – or additive manufacturing, as it's called by industry insiders – breaks into two key parts – and each part could unlock theoretically enormous economic value in the world's supply chain. One of the big ideas, of course, is that because 3D printing is based on a software-driven model, it can be used to print anything – if you can model it on a computer, you can print it in a 3D printer. To that end, one enormous theoretical upside of 3D printing is to unlock a new era of precision manufacturing wherein we can create highly complex parts that we simply could not create before – think unique rocket engines for space travel. These new parts could allow humans to create things that before were only science fiction. The other big idea is that with 3D printing, you can consolidate, accelerate, and cheapen the manufacturing process. That is, in legacy machining and casting processes, making a highly complex "big part" often requires multiple sub-processes to create "small parts," which are then slapped together to create the "big part." Additive manufacturing can make all those parts in one step – in one "print" – so that making complex and multi-step parts is streamlined, accelerated, and made more cost-effective. Those are the two enormous upsides of 3D printing – and that's why many industry insiders are so bullish on the potential economic impact of additive manufacturing. If these machines work efficiently, they could entirely redefine the world's supply chain. Now, onto the second question… if they're so great, why aren't 3D printers already everywhere? This answer is also simple: Technological shortcomings. Technology is a progress, not a product. And the progress of 3D printing technology has seen these printers run into some major obstacles over the past few years. One shortcoming is printing material. But this shortcoming has already been fixed. 3D printers used to print in just plastic. Now, they can print in metal. Another shortcoming is efficiency. But this shortcoming, too, is being fixed. 3D printers have historically been very slow in their layer-by-layer printing process, and used to be very small, thereby limiting how many parts each printer could print at a time. But today's printers are much faster than the printers of 2015, and much bigger, too. They're ready for mass production. So, those first two shortcomings are already being fixed. Yet, one major shortcoming remains… and Velo3D is the only company in the world that has come up with a solution to address this "final shortcoming" holding back the 3D Printing Revolution. Pioneering a New Era of Support-Free Metal 3D Printing The final major shortcoming of 3D printing is the use of supports in the printing process. 3D printing can be a pretty intense process. You have a big machine, moving rapidly back and forth, shooting powders/metals out of a pointer. Amid all that movement, the object being printed is subject to shaking. Not to mention, during the post-printing "sintering" process, metal objects are heated and cooled rapidly, and through such wild temperature variations, the object is subject to warping. To avoid that shaking and/or warping from altering the final printed object, 3D printers use supports to hold the object in place during printing and sintering. Such supports are limiting. They prevent the production of parts with complex internal geometries, and therefore, limit the upside of the "if you can think it, you can print it" concept. This limitation is major. If this limitation weren't a thing, rocket companies would be using 3D printing to make super-customized metal rocket engines, auto companies would be using 3D printing to accelerate production of custom auto parts, and energy companies would be using 3D printing to consolidate their supply chains. The 3D Printing Revolution would have already materialized… Instead, because supports limit the efficiency and capability of 3D printers, those companies are (for the most part) sticking with legacy machining, molding, and casting. Some 3D printing companies have figured out how to remove supports from plastic 3D printing – but not metal 3D printing. No one has figured out how to do support-free metal 3D printing. Except Velo3D… Velo3D has created a proprietary technology to make 3D printers without supports, so that its printers can produce any design engineers can dream of, even those designs with the most complex internal geometries. The breakthrough is a full-stack technology solution that starts with a brain preparation software called Flow that relies on complex computational algorithms to enable engineers to design any object they want and to translate legacy manufacturing designs into 3D-printable designs. The next step in this full-stack solution is Velo3D's Sapphire printer, which proceeds to print the Flow design without the use of any supports. Because they get rid of the supports, these printers can print any part, with exceptional accuracy and industry-leading speed. The final step is running everything through Velo3D's quality control software called Assure, which essentially validates the whole process to make sure the machine is always exactly calibrated the way it was set up. This full-stack technology solution from Velo3D – which is deeply protected by 48 systems, methods, and composition of matter patents – represents arguably the biggest breakthrough in the 3D printing industry in the past decade. More importantly, it puts Velo3D in a position of strength to redefine the world's supply chains over the next decade. Strong Early Demand With Huge Growth Potential Ahead Velo3D's technological breakthrough is more than a concept. The company's Flow, Sapphire, and Assure solutions are already in-market, and seeing strong early demand. As stated earlier, SpaceX is a huge Velo3D customer. SpaceX uses Velo3D's printers to make parts for the company's most important engine, it's Raptor engine. SpaceX absolutely loves Velo3D printers. The management team over there is convinced no one else can do what Velo3D is doing. Three years ago, SpaceX ordered its first Velo3D printer – today, the company has 22 Velo3D printers. SpaceX even tried to acquire Velo3D in 2020. But Velo3D is more than just "SpaceX's 3D printing company." Honeywell plans to start using Velo3D printers this quarter to fix some supply chain issues. An unnamed major supplier of flow control solutions for the energy industry is using Velo3D printers to rapidly scale on-demand manufacturing. An unnamed jet engine manufacturer is using Velo 3D printers to consolidate an existing engine into one part. Most of these customers have followed the SpaceX trajectory. That is, they started off by ordering one Velo3D printer, and less than a year later, became repeat customers for multiple printers. That's a healthy sign – and it implies that Velo3D truly is in the early stages of an enormous growth ramp. Management estimates that its breakthrough support-free metal AM technology has an addressable market of $20 billion. Revenues in 2020 measured less than $20 million. The runway for growth here is very long… and things will start to ramp this year, when Velo3D starts shipping its new-and-improved Sapphire XC printers which are super-sized versions of its current Sapphire printers and, therefore, have significantly more usability. We expect the launch of Sapphire XC printers to kickstart a multi-year stretch of triple-digit revenue growth for Velo3D – the likes of which will result in either this stock soaring several hundred percent, or getting acquired at an enormous premium. Either way, we think Velo3D stock is one of the best stocks to buy in the market today. Action to Take Buy Below Price: Buy SPFR stock up to $15.
Megatrend: Intelligence Economy One of the things we love about Velo3D stock today is the price. Unlike many other SPACs, Velo3D stock is trading only a few cents above its merger price. That means by investing in Velo3D stock today, we will be getting in on this world-changing 3D printing company at the same price as the SPAC sponsors – and they have, of course, priced the deal attractively for themselves. To that extent, we think that the time to buy Velo3D stock is right now. Sincerely 
Luke Lango
Editor, Exponential Growth Report Small-cap stocks that can rise 10X over the long run are often volatile. If you are interested in these stocks, understand the risks and buy them like a professional. Learn more about the risks of nano- to small-cap stocks and how to buy them here. | 
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