Updated: SyBridge Digital Solutions LLC, an affiliate of Southfield, Mich.-based SyBridge Technologies, has made its 14th acquisition in three years, buying the majority of assets of Chicago-based Fast Radius Inc. for $15.9 million in a bankruptcy court process.

SyBridge acquired assets to bolster its prototyping, additive manufacturing and software capabilities.

"Fast Radius is really a unique company. They've spent the better part of the past several years building out a complete cloud manufacturing platform and offering," SyBridge Technologies CEO Byron Paul said in an email.

Under SyBridge, Fast Radius will continue to operate its digital manufacturing and software business, will retain the majority of its employees, and will go to market under the Fast Radius brand name.

"Effectively, SyBridge is buying most of the operating assets of Fast Radius, and intends to continue to run it as a business within the SyBridge portfolio," Paul said.

Fast Radius has 180 employees and is on track to do about $27 million in sales this year from customers that include 45 Fortune 500 companies, according to its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

The specific assets acquired out of bankruptcy are still being finalized, Paul said, and can change up to the close, which is expected before the end of 2022.

However, at a macro level, Paul said SyBridge is adding most employees, most leases for facilities and equipment, all intellectual property, such as brand names trademarks and web domains, and all customer relationships.

The Fast Radius website lists customers including Colgate-Palmolive, Yanfeng, Rawlings and Satair.

Since its founding in 2017, Fast Radius has helped customers produce more than 15 million parts from more than 150,000 distinct designs, a SyBridge news release about the acquisition says.

Fast Radius developed a suite of software that integrates design, production and fulfillment operations across a single platform. This enables simpler and more accessible manufacturing, the release says.

Fast Radius had gone public through a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, which sells shares to investors before identifying the business it intends to buy. It failed to meet expected prices per share and entered the bankruptcy process in November.

The acquisition of Fast Radius' cloud manufacturing and artificial intelligence platform accelerates SyBridge's vision of being an industrial technology company with a global design, prototyping and manufacturing network.

"We will be able to support our customers throughout their product lifecycle — from product design, engineering and prototyping through tool production, supportive molding and finally preventative maintenance and repair. We look forward to bringing the Fast Radius team onboard, and together, becoming the preferred design and manufacturing partner to our global customers," Paul said in the release.

The sale, subject to court approval, is expected to close before the end of 2022, and possibly by Dec. 16.

Patrick McCusker, currently president and interim chief financial officer of Fast Radius, said the two companies are good fit.

"Our parts and software capabilities align incredibly well with SyBridge's global manufacturing footprint and prototyping capabilities," he said in the release.

A different news release on the Fast Radius website says SyBridge's winning bid provides a total consideration of about $15.9 million, maximizes value and minimizes the remaining duration of Fast Radius's restructuring.

In addition to its Chicago headquarters, Fast Radius has offices in Louisville, Ky., and Singapore, and microfactories in Chicago and at the UPS Worldport facility in Louisville.

Established in 2019 by Crestview Partners, SyBridge is the result of 14 acquisitions made to combine different products, services and technologies into a singular solution. SyBridge has operations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Ireland.

The 13th acquisition had just been announced in October. SyBridge bought Galway, Ireland-based Galway Tool & Mould Ltd. to expand its presence in the life sciences end market and get a foothold in Europe from the heart of a medical technology hub.

SyBridge's previous acquisitions included consumer products mold maker Calframax Technologies Inc. of Oldcastle, Ontario; Fitchburg, Mass.-based Wachusett Precision Tool Inc.; Advantage Engineering Inc. in Windsor, Ontario; Active Industrial Solutions Inc. in Windsor; Pyramid Mold & Tool in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; Lakeshore Fixture & Gauge Ltd. in Windsor; Action Tooling LLC in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Concours Technologies Inc. of Lakeshore, Ontario; Valiant Tool and Mold Inc. of Windsor; X-Cell Tool and Mold Inc. in Fairview, Pa.; Toolplas Mexico of Querétaro, Mexico; and Toolstats software platform.

With $184 million in annual sales, SyBridge is No. 3 in the new 2022 Plastics News ranking of North American mold makers.

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