Joseph M. DeSimone is an American chemist, inventor and entrepreneur best known as the co-founder and CEO of Carbon, an American technology company that manufactures and develops 3D printers utilizing the Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) process, with their first commercial product being the Carbon M1 Printer.
Early life and education
Joseph DeSimone was born on May 16, 1964. DeSimone earned his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in 1986 from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania; and a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia in 1990.
Joseph DeSimone is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in 2005, the National Academy of Sciences in 2012, and the National Academy of Medicine in 2014.C
Career
Joseph DeSimone began an ecologically friendly in the 1990s that depends on supercritical carbon dioxide instead of bio-persistent surfactants and water for the making of high-performance plastics or fluoropolymers, such as Teflon. Since 1990, DeSimone is a professor at the University of North Carolina and Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Joseph DeSimone, together with the cardiologist at Duke University, Dr. Richard Stack, co-founded Bio-absorbable Vascular Solutions (BVS) in 2002, to advertise a completely bio-absorbable, drug-eluting stent. In 2003, Guidant obtained BVS. Abbott Vascular marketed the technology for the treatment of coronary artery disease.
In recent years, Joseph DeSimone’s academic research group has been very concentrated on learning how to conduct the precision, uniformity, and mass production techniques associated with the fabrication of nanoscale characteristics seen in the microelectronics industry to the field of nanomedicine for the fabrication and delivery of vaccines, and therapeutics for the medication and prevention of illnesses. The PRINT technology or Particle Replication in Non-Wetting Templates, formed in the DeSimone laboratory, is fundamental to the organization’s work. The PRINT technology and DeSimone’s academic laboratory turned into a charity for the Carolina Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence supported by the National Cancer Institute.
Liquidia Technologies
Joseph DeSimone also co-founded Liquidia Technologies, a biopharmaceutical company changing the development of new therapies by specifically engineering drug particles to market a unique 3DPRINT tech produced by DeSimone and Ed Samulski, in 2004 based on PRINT. The Morrisville-based company has recorded an initial public offering of $57.5 million.
The company’s technology was advanced enough to settle a $10 million investment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2011. More recently, Liquidia gathered $25 million in private equity in February. Envisia, an eye-treatment spinout raised $25 million in 2013 and a further $16.5 million in 2016. It also had assistance from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, which allowed an industrial member to join the firm and added both Envisia and Liquidia in conferences with investors, such as the Research Triangle Fly-in in 2012, and in 2013, an NC Biotech event in New York.
Carbon (Carbon3D Inc.)
On June 11, 2014, Joseph and his brother, Philip DeSimone started a company called Carbon, a manufacturer and technology company. It develops and manufactures 3D printers applying the (CLIP) Continuous Liquid Interface Production process, with its first product being the Carbon M1 Printer.
Joseph DeSimone delivered a TED talk which presented a preview of a 3D printer prototype using Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) in March 2015, with a scene in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, was quoted as the inspiration for the technology. After Autodesk supported Carbon with $10 million in June, Ford Motor Company declared a partnership with the company, as well as participating in Carbon’s early passage program for their printers. Legacy Effects was provided the technology to apply for Terminator Genisys, as well as Delhi Automotive, and former Ford CEO and President, Alan Mulally joined the board of directors within the same month. In July, the company also increased $70 million in equity funding, and in The Motley Fool interview, DeSimone added more abilities and features of CLIP.
The company raised more than $100 million in a Series C funding round in August, which was led by GV and including other investors Yuri Milner, Reinet Investments, and F.I.S. Others investors include Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake Kraftwerk, and Northgate Capital were noted at the time as existing investors, and Paul DiLaura, former Dassault Systèmes Managing Director, joined as Vice President of Sales. The company was subsequently named the Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum within August as well.
Johnson & Johnson declared a partnership in January 2016 with Carbon to create custom surgical devices. Kodak also said a partnership with Carbon in March, to provide supplies for its printers, while Josh Green, a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur, joined as a general counsel. The company declared the M1 as the commercial printer in April. A former Microsoft marketing executive, Valerie Buckingham, joined as VP of Marketing in May. On August, it was declared that service bureaus Dinsmore Inc. and Midwest Prototyping would offer the M1 and Carbon’s services. In September, the company obtained $81.1 million, pulling companies BMW, GE Ventures, JSR, and Nikon, with both JSR and Nikon preparing to support Carbon join the Japanese market, while General Electric and BMW declared its incorporation of the M1 in their German facilities. On November, BMW joined the early access program.
In December 2017, the company declared it had increased $143 million in the first tranche of Series D funding to raise a sum of $200 million. In April 2019 the company increased $300 million in Series E. If Carbon grows the full amount, it could reach a valuation of $2.5 billion.
Currently, DeSimone is on sabbatical leave from the University of North Carolina and is the co-founder and CEO of American technology company and manufacturer, Carbon, which produces printers with the Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) technology. DeSimone is also an adjunct affiliate at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. DeSimone has issued over 350 scientific articles and has more than 200 published patents in his name with over 200 patents pending.