Made in Malta products: Magigoo adhesives, a leading solution in the 3D printing industry wins the Malta International Business Awards Innovation category.

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Having demonstrated that its products are innovative and with a significant increase in export revenue, Thought3D Ltd, wins the prestigious Innovation Exporter Category Award. Thought3D Ltd is probably not very well known in Malta, but this small sized company is making waves internationally in the Additive Manufacturing Industry with its high quality products being adopted by most.

Innovation Exporter Category Award, awarded to Thought3D, producer of Magigoo. Picture with Magigoo original 120 mL and 50 mL — Innovation Exporter Category Award, awarded to Thought3D, producer of Magigoo

First held in 2017, Malta’s premier international business awards, created by TradeMalta with the strategic support of HSBC Bank Malta, awards businesses across a range of categories. Running for the second time the categories were: Exporter of the Year in Small, Medium, Large, and Emerging Markets, Innovation Exporter of the Year, High Potential Exporter of the Year, Online Exporter, and Overall Exporter of the Year. Maltese based company and Magigoo adhesives producer Thought3D was nominated in several categories and won the Innovation Category award!

Thought3D co-founders Dr. Keith M. Azzopardi (left), Edward Borg (right) — Dr. Keith M. Azzopardi (left), Edward Borg (right)

Thought3D History

Thought3D was setup in 2014 by two young Maltese entrepreneurs, who, through various research and development projects gradually shifted their focus to 3D printing, which was just experiencing its shift into mainstream engineering. As patents in the field were just expiring, the field opened-up to research and development. Dr. Keith M. Azzopardi and Edward Borg quickly realised that this was a good opportunity and they managed to find a gap in the market.

Magigoo Original 3D printing adhesive

The key to success was making the 3D printing process as reliable and effortless as possible. To this end, they developed and released their first product in 2015, an adhesive under the brand of Magigoo. The University of Malta and the Ministry for the Economy, Investment Small Businesses led TakeOff Seed Fund Awards, which they won, made this possible. They also won the Malta Innovation Award for the invention of Magigoo that same year.

Magigoo original being applied to Ultimaker S5 — Current iteration of the Original Magigoo 3D Printing first layer adhesive

After strengthening their team with the addition of then TakeOff Manager, Andrei-Andy Linnas and securing much needed seed funding from local angel investors they reiterated the product in 2016. The continuous support from Malta Enterprise, also in the form of start-up and research grants, meant that the team could focus more wholly on developing and innovating. The collaborations with leading local companies such as Firstbridge Services Ltd, BRND WGN and Ganado Advocates, also played an integral role in putting Thought3D on the map.

Magigoo first layer adhesives for Professionals

With the addition of chemist Jean Paul Formosa to the team, in 2018, the company started focusing more on the needs of industrial users. Within two years, Magigoo evolved from one product into a product line consisting of 8 specific different glues that make sure that whatever material the 3D printing industry wants to print with, it can. The Magigoo 3D printing solutions are Original, Flex, PC, PA, PP, PPGF, HT, and Metal for ULTRAFUSE 316L. Thought3D and its products are well recognised internationally, since the Magigoo 3D printing solutions provide much needed value. Magigoo products securely hold the prints during printing ensuring a successful print, however, and this is the most interesting part, they also release their adhesion upon print completion allowing for easy removal.

Left to Right: Magigoo Pro HT, Magigoo Pro Flex, Magigoo Pro PA, Magigoo Original, Magigoo Pro PC, Magigoo Pro PP, Magigoo Pro PPGF

All Magigoo products are water-based adhesives and do not contain any hazardous chemicals. This makes the product safe for the end users and takes away any barriers for world-wide shipping. Furthermore there is no other company in the 3D printing industry that can provide a holistic service like Thought3D, from the development of custom products all the way to providing end client support.

Thought3D Today and Tomorrow

Today, the Magigoo brand is established in the 3D printing industry and is the standard go to solution for hobbyists and professionals. With an impressive partner network, Thought3D is collaborating directly with leading 3D printer manufacturers and material vendors, some of whom are amongst the largest chemical producers in the world (such as Polymaker, Owen’s Corning). Magigoo products are being integrated with the printing machinery and bundled directly with the raw material itself (filaments). Magigoo adhesives are also resold in over 30 countries through a network of 70 resellers world-wide. Thought3D is foreseeing further improvements to their products.

The team is now focusing on developing further products, that help in making additive manufacturing even more reliable and seamless. Thought3D is putting the ‘MADE IN MALTA’ on the map of future manufacturing and is always searching for new capital to fuel the commercialisation of new products and production methods. To learn more about Thought3D get in touch with the team at andy@thought3d.com.

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