the community of Print 3D and makers It's undergoing one of its biggest moves in years: MyMiniFactory has acquired 100% of Thingiverse, still one of the world's best-known 3D model libraries. The deal brings together millions of users, two platform philosophies, and a shared underlying principle: prioritizing human work over the onslaught of automated content.
With this purchase, the nearly 8 million Thingiverse users They then become part of the MyMiniFactory ecosystem, a London-based platform that boasts having already delivered more than $ 100 million in revenue directly to their creators. This is not just a database merger, but a strategic shift for the global market—including Spain and the rest of Europe—in how we share, find, and monetize printable files.
From pioneering library to strategic asset: the trajectory of Thingiverse
To understand the scope of this news, it's helpful to remember how Thingiverse has evolved. It was launched in 2008 by... MakerBot as an open repository de STL fileswhere anyone could share their printable designs for free. At the height of the RepRap movement, it became the go-to place for exchanging and modifying models, regardless of the printer used.
In 2013, MakerBot was bought by Stratasysand with it, Thingiverse. The platform continued to grow strongly, surpassing one million shared models and becoming an almost default index for many users of Domestic FDMHowever, over time, complaints accumulated about ineffective searches, disappearing thumbnails, and unstable tools like the customizer, while alternatives such as Printables, Cults or MakerWorld emerged.
One particularly delicate episode was the 2021 data gapThis led many users to close their accounts and migrate to other, more secure services. Even so, Thingiverse maintained tens of millions of monthly visits and a huge library, but with a general feeling of stagnation.
In 2022 came another change of hands: MakerBot merged with ultimakerThingiverse then began relying on the new UltiMaker. This brought performance improvements, a modernized interface, and enhanced software integration. Care Instructions This is especially relevant for European users, where these tools are widespread. Despite this technical boost, many felt there was a lack of a clear strategy to put the platform back at the forefront.
All this context explains Why the acquisition by MyMiniFactory is interpreted as an opportunity to relaunch the project with a more defined roadmap and a strong focus on creators.
MyMiniFactory acquires 100% of Thingiverse: details of the transaction
MyMiniFactory has acquired 100% of Thingiverse to UltiMaker It assumes both day-to-day management and the thorough "clean-up" that many had been demanding for years. The deal was finalized at the end of January and made public in mid-February, accompanied by a series of press releases, interviews, and open meetings with the community.
Thingiverse is now integrated into the SoulCrafted ecosystem MyMiniFactory, an umbrella company that also includes YouMagine (acquired in 2024) and SoulCrafted Slicer. In total, the group now has around 10 million users, more than 6 million objects uploaded and a proven revenue based on digital payment models, subscriptions and other mechanisms of direct support to designers.
The new head of Thingiverse is Romain KiddThe former CEO of MyMiniFactory, who is taking on the challenge with a mixed team: a small core group from MyMiniFactory and a team of about ten people in the Netherlands focused on technology and marketing. The base of operations is in London, but with a distributed work model that, in principle, facilitates maintaining a strong presence in key markets such as Europe and the United States.
In several statements, Kidd has emphasized that the acquisition aims to create "the 3D printing platform focused on creators biggest in the world"Combining Thingiverse's vast library with MyMiniFactory's proven business models. The idea is to keep content accessible to the general public, but also provide a clear path for designers to earn a sustainable income."
From a marketing perspective, Rees CalderThe newly appointed CMO of Thingiverse insists that the intention is not to turn the site into a "MyMiniFactory 2.0" or impose paywalls on what has been free until now, but to restore the utility of the repository and add voluntary monetization options.
The SoulCrafted seal: a commitment to human content over AI
One of the most striking aspects of this move is that Thingiverse officially becomes a SoulCrafted platformSoulCrafted is an initiative launched by MyMiniFactory that champions the value of objects designed with intention, emotion, and personalization, as opposed to standardized production and content generated en masse by artificial intelligence.
In practice, this translates into a policy very restrictive with AI-generated contentMyMiniFactory had already made it clear that, within its ecosystem, models and resources must be created by people, and now it's extending that philosophy to Thingiverse. The company has announced that it will not allow new uploads that incorporate automatically generated content while it reviews the current library to remove what it considers "problematic content."
The stated goal is to protect the livelihoods of human creators at a time when virtually all major content platforms are "flooded" with AI-produced material. Kidd sums it up as a battle over the type of internet and future that we want to build: spaces where manual work and careful design take priority and are not used solely as training data for algorithms.
However, the approach will not be entirely binary. The company has indicated that creators will be able to tag AI-related contentUsers will have the option to filter these types of files. The red line, at least initially, is to not promote or highlight such content on the homepage or in main sections, always favoring verifiable human creations.
In more technical sectors - such as engineering or mechanical designMyMiniFactory, very common on Thingiverse and with a significant presence in Europe, leaves the door open to debate on how far the presence of AI tools should go in the workflow, always with the community participating in defining those rules.
Economy for creators: monetization without betraying the open model
MyMiniFactory presents the operation as an extension of a economic model that has already proven to workOver the past decade, the platform has distributed more than $100 million to thousands of independent designers, supported by nearly one million paying customers worldwide, including from Spain and the European Union.
Among the already established tools are the direct sale of premium STL filesThese include subscriptions like Tribes—where users support their favorite designers monthly—patronage campaigns, brand sponsorship deals, and options such as ad-free tiers. The plan is to bring a good portion of this arsenal to Thingiverse, but without rushing or applying retroactive changes that would break the trust of those who uploaded models under a free-sharing modeling modeling modeling model.
Management has been adamant in stating that it will not be placed a price on each existing itemNor will the terms of use be changed abruptly. The idea is to introduce additional features for creators who want to monetize their work, while the rest of the library will remain available under the current open access rules.
A review of the advertising model is also expected. Instead of relying exclusively on generic ads, the intention is opt for sponsors more aligned with the maker world and 3D printing, something that could be especially interesting for European companies that want to target this niche without spreading themselves out in large, poorly segmented campaigns.
Although there is still no public roadmap with firm dates, MyMiniFactory is taking a phased approach: first, strengthening the user experience; then, selecting from five to ten priority categories Based on downloads, "likes" and market size, and from there launch the first monetization tools adapted to each community.
Top priority: content search, discovery, and cleanup
Beyond the economic aspect, one of the historical complaints of users - both in Europe and in the rest of the world - has been the poor search and discovery experience on Thingiverse. MyMiniFactory has identified this point as the first front to attack.
Among the measures announced are the complete reconstruction of category pagesThe introduction of human curation to highlight quality work and reduce the visibility of low-relevance or mass-generated uploads. The intention is to move away from a single, "soft" search box and offer more guided tours based on interests, communities, or applications (from functional parts to educational projects or household utilities).
In parallel, the company has set out to clean up the platform of obsolete, duplicate, or clearly unusable filesMany of these accounts are abandoned. Although the team acknowledges its small size and the time required for this task, there is a consensus that a new model cannot be built on a foundation saturated with content that no one downloads or that generates failed impressions.
Regarding the control of AI content, a combination of Manual inspection and community signageInstead of just tracking individual files, account behavior will be monitored, focusing on patterns such as massive uploads in a few hours or automatically generated collections with little added value.
This reinforcement of quality and organization is key for Thingiverse to once again become a trusted tool for very different profiles: from experienced engineers from those who need reliable technical models to hobbyists who have just bought their first FDM printer at home.
A community involved from day one
Another central element of this movement is the effort to directly involve the community in key decisions. MyMiniFactory and Thingiverse have organized live Q&A sessions—for example, a meeting scheduled for February 17th around 17:00 PM—where users can raise questions, criticisms, and proposals.
In addition, the following have been enabled official groups within Thingiverse to gather ongoing feedback, as well as social media channels where the project leaders have committed to responding publicly. Kidd's repeated message is clear: "Thingiverse belongs to the people who use it," and the roadmap must be built with those who share models daily in mind.
In these initial conversations, recurring concerns have already emerged: fear of widespread "tolls," doubts about how the border will be managed between free and paid contentAnd questions about the exact AI policy in more technical areas. The response, for now, is cautious: they don't want to promise features without first verifying with each user segment what they actually need.
For the European community, where Thingiverse remains a common tool both in Maker spaces, educational centers and small workshopsThese sessions provide an opportunity to communicate specific needs: from multilingual support to categories better suited to engineering, architecture, or technical training projects.
MyMiniFactory itself has committed to measuring the initial success of the integration not so much by business figures, but by the qualitative user reaction to the first changes in discovery, AI moderation, and new tools.
With the acquisition of Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory takes a decisive step towards consolidating a large 3D printing ecosystem focused on creators, based on a combination of free access, human curation, and clear monetization optionsThe addition of the SoulCrafted label and a firm stance against AI-generated content set the tone for a commitment to protecting the value of human-made design while modernizing a veteran platform that was in need of attention. If the improved search functionality, library cleanup, and genuine community engagement materialize as promised, both individual and professional users—in Spain, Europe, and the rest of the world—could once again find themselves with a useful, organized, and sustainable Thingiverse for the next decade.
