Serial entrepreneur Éder Medeiros, known in the market for founding Melhor Envio, a startup acquired by Locaweb for R$83 million in 2020, has just allocated R$1 million of his own investment to launch Maker Market, a platform aimed at strengthening national production, reducing dependency on imports, and encouraging Brazilian industry through decentralized 3D printing technology.
The project proposes a new digital manufacturing infrastructure that is connected, on-demand, and accessible to any region in Brazil. Maker Market’s proposal is to connect three profiles: 3D model designers, 3D printer owners (makers), and e-commerce store owners.
“Our platform was born from the realization that many 3D printers are sitting idle, with unused production capacity that could be useful to someone producing items focused on e-commerce. Increasing the utilization of these machines means reducing the need for imports in our market. Additionally, we aim to lower the price of manufactured items, ensuring the final cost is proportional to the time taken and materials used in production,” says Éder Medeiros, CEO and founder of Maker Market.
Headquartered at Pelotas Parque Tecnológico (PPT), Maker Market was created with the purpose of contributing to the country’s reindustrialization, becoming the infrastructure for on-demand production for the next generation of makers, designers, and store owners.
How it works in practice
Maker Market allows any online store to sell physical products without needing inventory, using a local and automated production network. When a sale occurs, the system activates the nearest maker to print and deliver the product on demand.
The idea behind the collaboration network is that store owners select photos of printed products from a proprietary catalog with around 10,000 items, along with their descriptions, and add them to their online store. “If the seller has a decoration business, for example, they will choose decoration items from our catalog, add them to their e-commerce site, and set the price with their desired margin. As each sale is made, they can request a print through our platform. This print request will then be directed to the most suitable makers for the buyer,” explains Medeiros.
“The first maker to accept the request will print the respective product, package it, attach a shipping label from our partners at Melhor Envio, and post it for delivery to the final buyer,” adds the CEO of Maker Market.
The company will also focus on sustainability, developing processes to reuse waste generated in the 3D printing chain—such as supports and production failures—promoting efficiency and alignment with circular economy principles.
In addition to the platform, the startup will build a 500 m² research and development facility, where over 50 employees—including at least 30 researchers—will lead projects in materials, hardware, and advanced 3D printing processes. One focus is the development of high-fidelity colored resins, currently unavailable in Brazil, with the potential to replace imported inputs and enable local production with industrial finishing.
Operations in agribusiness and industrial sectors
Another strategic focus of the company will be the development of accessible metal printing technologies for on-demand production of technical parts. The proposal includes applications in agribusiness—such as replacement parts for tractors and machinery—but also serves industrial sectors facing long lead times, component obsolescence, or customization needs.
With this technology, it will be possible to manufacture customized items nationally that currently depend on imports or large minimum order volumes. The facility will be the first of its kind in Brazil dedicated to metal additive manufacturing for end customers (B2C).
“We want to connect makers spread across the country—people with 3D printers—and in the future, the idea is to have at least one user in every city capable of printing. All connected through our website, which will also feature a network of designers creating 3D models of products, as well as a network of store owners. This is how the future will be printed,” concludes Medeiros.
The startup already has institutional support from UFPEL, through the incubator Conectar, the Superintendence of Innovation and Interinstitutional Development – INOVA, Tecnosul Parque Científico e Tecnológico, and other agents in the local innovation ecosystem. It also maintains dialogue with industrial and financial entities to enable its facility and national expansion, while seeking partnerships with public funding initiatives to accelerate its technological development and expand its impact.
