Headmade Materials wants metal 3D printing to move from prototypes to volume production. Headmade Materials, a company founded in 2019 in Unterpleichfeld near Würzburg, developed ColdMetalFusion: a metal powder bound in plastic that standard plastic laser sintering printers can shape at low temperature, after which the part is debound and sintered into solid metal, as in metal injection moulding.
The European Innovation Council granted €2,099,562 towards a €3.00 million project to take the process towards mass production; the company announced €5.85 million from the EIC in total. By the project's end in March 2024, Headmade reported four commercial materials, eight printer models qualified and an industry alliance of 12 partners. The company is still active in the German register, but its public news stops in November 2024 and it publishes no sales figures.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Headmade Materials GmbH, HRB 14577, Amtsgericht Würzburg
- Founded
- April 2019, by Christian Fischer and Christian Staudigel
- Technology
- ColdMetalFusion metal-polymer feedstock for sinter-based printing
- Materials
- 17-4PH stainless, M2 tool steel, Inconel 625, TiAl4822 and others
- Users named
- Plansee, Element22, MIMplus, Sturdy Cycles, Utilis; partner Nexa3D
- Investors
- AM Ventures, btov Industrial Technologies Fund, EIC
- EIC project
- CMF, 1 Apr 2022 to 31 Mar 2024, closed
- EIC funding
- Blended finance
Where Headmade Stands Today
German register data compiled by North Data show Headmade as active, with a capital increase in July 2024, a management update in February 2025 and annual accounts filed up to February 2026. Its news page ends in November 2024 with the release of Inconel 625 and titanium aluminide. Earlier in 2024 it announced a partnership with the printer maker Nexa3D and the AutoSmooth research project with AM Solutions and Neue Materialien Bayreuth.
The Technology: Printing Metal Without Melting It
In ColdMetalFusion, metal powder is coated with a polymer binder. A printer built for plastic parts sinters the binder at low temperature to form a "green part", which is then freed of binder and sintered in a furnace, the same finishing steps used in metal injection moulding. In November 2023 it reported a cutting tool holder made with the process by Utilis and MIMplus with a "185% performance increase".
"With the support gained, we will accelerate the transformation of metal 3D printing into volume production."
Christian Staudigel, CEO, Headmade Materials, February 2022What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The CMF project promised "metal additive manufacturing with sinter-based Cold Metal Fusion technology for mass production of metal parts". The CORDIS report lists four commercial materials, four project-based materials and six in beta, feedstock qualified on eight printer models from makers including EOS, Farsoon and Nexa, two turnkey offers called LabSystem and JobShop, nine patent filings and the ColdMetalFusion Alliance of 12 industry partners. It gives no customer numbers, production volumes or revenue.
- More materialsDeliveredFour commercial, more in beta.
- A wider printer baseDeliveredEight printer models qualified.
- An industrial ecosystemDeliveredAlliance of 12 partners.
- Mass production of partsNot shownNo volumes published.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The Money
In January 2022 Headmade announced EIC support of €5.85 million without splitting it into grant and equity; CORDIS records the grant at €2.10 million. In February 2022 it closed a €2.5 million Series A led by AM Ventures with btov's Industrial Technologies Fund. The register shows a further capital increase in July 2024. In October 2025 Headmade closed a €1.8 million round led by Jet Ventures, with Matterwave Ventures, AM Ventures and the European Innovation Council, to develop new materials, support more printers and scale applications.
What cannot be checked
How much equity the EIC has invested across the rounds, what the 2024 capital increase raised, Headmade's revenue and how much feedstock it sells are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
ColdMetalFusion runs on plastic printers and the debinding and sintering steps of metal injection moulding, and its named users include metal injection moulders such as MIMplus. The EIC helped build the material range and the alliance around it.
What the project promised
Sinter-based metal 3D printing for mass production of metal parts.
What the record shows
More materials, eight qualified printers, an alliance and named users; no published volumes or sales.
The Verdict
Delivered the toolkit, quiet on results
CMF delivered the technical breadth it promised and the company is still operating. But "mass production" is measured in parts and revenue, and Headmade publishes neither, while its news went silent after late 2024.
Headmade Materials has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, EU project data and German register information, linked throughout.
