Disney has quietly acquired tech and assets of MakieLab, a startup that 3D printed dolls

MakieLab, a London-based startup that 3D printed and sold custom dolls, has officially shuttered, with a partial exit to Disney. TechCrunch understands that the U.S. entertainment company acquired MakieLab’s tech and assets as early as July last year

From the Official Makies Facebook page:

We tried to continue on the Makies world-takeover independently, but the dream had to end, for all sorts of 2016 – ewww -reasons. We hope our new owner can achieve what we couldn’t on our own for you: thank you, new owner, you are our only hope!

We’d like to send an enormous thanks, to all of our customers, our supporters and suppliers around the world for helping us to launch the world’s first 3D printed toy. So many, many people helped us along the way, and we are hugely grateful for the loyalty and belief that was shown in us.

Makies were just a little ahead of their time. They’re going back to the future, which is where they came from in the first place, of course…

Check out our profile on the inimitable Alice Taylor from Ada Lovelace Day 2013, and for some interesting background head over to Make’s profile from march of that year!

“We’re a small digital/physical manufacturing startup, operating in an unproven area. Everyone believes in it, and knows it’s going to grow, but there are some really significant questions, like, how long is it going to take for material prices to come down? How long before SLS machines stop costing £125,000 [$186,000], and more like the £1-5k range [$1,500-$7,500]. That changes things radically. The dolls at the moment are quite expensive, compared to Barbie, but that’s a factor of the cost of the powdered plastic. So we need to stay alive during this alpha geek stage, where the technology stops emerging, and becomes mainstream. And I’m hoping that process takes no longer than three or four years!”

We wish the best of luck to Alice and the Makies on their next adventures!