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At Hubs, we empower engineers to create revolutionary products.

Hubs empowers engineers to create revolutionary products by making custom manufacturing more accessible. We leverage automation to allow fast and affordable access to manufacturing capabilities from all over the world.

A broad range of capabilities

Hubs started life as the world’s largest peer-to-peer network of 3D printing services, but as we grew with our customers we needed to offer a broader range of capabilities to help their businesses succeed.

Today there are hundreds of manufacturers in our global network, and customers can order parts in a broad range of materials using multiple manufacturing technologies, and with many secondary processes as well. Our customers come back again and again because we’ll always find a way to make what they need.

Fast & affordable


The two main drivers of accessibility are price and speed, so we build state-of-the-art automation that makes custom manufacturing cheaper and faster.

We use machine learning to quote costs better than any machinist, instantly. This reduces the overhead costs in our prices, and eliminates a lot of the time our customers would normally spend sourcing quotes.

We automate production through a global network of hundreds of specialised manufacturing partners. This means we can guarantee capacity and lead times 24/7, 365 days a year, and leverage competitive forces to guarantee our prices are always fair and unbiased.

Milestones

  • 2013
  • 2015
  • 2016
  • 2017
  • 2019
  • 2020
  • 2021
Hubs founded
2013 hubs logo

2013

April

Partnership with Autodesk

2015

June

Acquired Printivate for DfM analysis
2016 November dfm

2016

November

Increased capabilities - CNC Machining
2017 January cnc

2017

January

Partnered with manufacturers in China
2017 February China 1
2017 February China 2

2017

February

First Student Grant launched

2017

October

3D Printing Handbook published
2017 november book

2017

November

Increased capabilities - Sheet Metal Fabrication
2019 march sheet metal

2019

March

Opened office in Chicago

2019

May

Increased capabilities - Rapid Tooling
2019 september injection molding

2019

September

Partnered with manufacturers in India
2019 october india 1
2019 october india 2

2019

October

Opened office in Germany

2020

January

QA facilities opened in Amsterdam & Chicago

2020

March

Partnered with manufacturers in Eastern Europe
2020 april europe

2020

April

Partnered with manufacturers in Mexico
2020 june mexico (1)

2020

June

Updated quote building portal
2020 october platform 1
2020 october platform 2

2020

October

Hubs acquired by Protolabs
banner DEF 1 Hubs

2021

January

A Protolabs Company

In January 2021 Hubs was proudly acquired by Protolabs, the global leader in fast custom manufacturing.

protolabs logo

We’re very excited because it’s an incredible opportunity to further our mission of making custom manufacturing accessible. By combining forces we’ve created the world’s most comprehensive digital manufacturing offer for custom parts, giving our combined customer base better access to increased design complexity, tighter tolerances, additional finishing options, more materials, and a broader range of lead-time options.

You can read more about the acquisition here: Hubs and Protolabs join forces.

Hubs would have been an essential resource when we were building the iPod, the iPhone, and Nest. Instead of waiting weeks to get back models & prototypes, now with Hubs' crucial online prototyping & manufacturing platform, engineers and designers can turn ideas into objects in only a few days, with precision 3D printed, CNC'd, or injection molded parts, and even move straight into volume manufacturing.

Tony Fadell

iPod inventor, iPhone co-inventor, Nest founder,
and Future Shape principal

Icon of an opening double quote Portrait photo of Tony Fadell

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