MyMiniFactory has acquired 100% of Thingiverse from Ultimaker, bringing collectively practically 8 million customers below a single platform that has paid out over $100 million to impartial creators since its founding.
The acquisition positioned Thingiverse as a part of the SoulCrafted umbrella, which additionally contains MyMiniFactory, YouMagine, and the SoulCrafted Slicer. The SoulCrafted designation emphasizes human-made designs, human curation, and creator-focused economics as a counterpoint to AI-generated content material.
“AI-generated content material is all over the place now and is a menace to the livelihoods of actual creators all over the place,” mentioned Romain Kidd, Chief Government Officer at Thingiverse. “We all know from launching SoulCrafted that there’s actual demand for areas the place human work is valued and guarded. Thingiverse will probably be a kind of areas.”
MyMiniFactory has operated a creator-first mannequin for a decade, distributing over $100 million to its neighborhood from practically 1 million paying prospects. The corporate beforehand utilized the identical method to YouMagine, which it acquired in 2024 and reworked from a file repository right into a platform the place technical creators earn revenue from RC designs.
MyMiniFactory additionally operates Scan the World, an open-source initiative that has preserved tens of hundreds of cultural artifacts via 3D scanning and neighborhood collaboration.
“We’re making use of what already works,” mentioned Rees Calder, Chief Advertising Officer at Thingiverse. “Deal with creators as companions. Give them actual instruments to construct sustainable audiences and revenue.”
Thingiverse will retain its open-sharing mannequin whereas MyMiniFactory introduces sustainable enterprise instruments for creators. The platform will prioritize SoulCrafted content material over AI-generated or non-printable information.
“I hope to assist Thingiverse turn out to be a useful, reliable and trusted instrument for seasoned engineers and newbie tinkerers alike,” mentioned Arys Andreou, Chief Know-how Officer at Thingiverse.
