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3D files publishing platform Sketchfab has raised $2 Million led by Balderton Capital, with participation by Partech Ventures, Borealis Ventures, and Techstars founder David Cohen. This fundraising comes just 10 months after Sketchfab raised €370K from a slew of French Business Angels; at the time, Sketchfab counted 20,000+ users, and has grown to over 100,000 users to date, getting them closer to their goal of becoming the “YouTube for 3D Files.”
This past June Sketchfab joined the Techstars program in New York for 3 months, and co-founder Alban Denoyel tells me that the team will continue to travel between Paris, where 7 of its team-members are based, and New York City.
In recent months, Sketchfab’s platform has become a popular way to share hardware designs, and integrations with Kickstarter, LinkedIn, Reddit & more have made it easy for users to upload and share their 3D Images.
Recently, 3D files for the Amazon Prime Air drone, the PS4, and the Nexus 5 have hit viral status on Sketchfab’s platform, with power-users regularly uploading 3D files for hardware products in the news.
Speaking with Alban, he told me that, while they had other investment offers of smaller amounts from various US investors, they ultimately chose to go with Balderton Capital, a VC they have had a relationship since the very beginning of Sketchfab, because they were looking for a lead investor who could guide them as they grow. The round has been led by Bernard Liautaud (who we interviewed earlier this year), the former Business Objects founder. While Liautaud’s entrepreneurial experience falls more into the enterprise category, his investment portfolio has not been, and I’m excited to see him backing Sketcfhab.