Freeform Named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026
We are proud to have been named to Fast Company’s prestigious list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026. This year’s list shines a spotlight on businesses that are shaping industry and culture.
Over the past 18 months, Freeform designed, built, and deployed the world’s highest-throughput laser metal 3D printing system — and put it into full-scale production. Where most commercial printers run 1–4 lasers with crippling downtime and low precision, Freeform integrates 18 high-power 1kW lasers in an assembly-line architecture running 24/7/365 with near-zero downtime. Every element of the stack — mechanical systems, computer architecture, optics, software, and machine learning — was developed in-house, making it the only additive system capable of producing mission-critical parts at industrial scale.
"Being recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies is a tremendous honor that validates our mission to redefine manufacturing for the 21st century and proves that the future of manufacturing doesn’t need to look like its past."
Erik Palitsch, Founder + CEO
Central to the platform is a breakthrough telemetry system using high-speed cameras, high-performance computing, and machine learning to image metal printing physics in real time — capturing data at microsecond intervals and making instant laser adjustments to ensure every part turns out exactly as intended. Freeform is also the first metal printing company powered by Physical AI: a proprietary platform fusing custom AI algorithms, simulations, and real-time sensor data powered by NVIDIA GPUs to continuously improve print capabilities.
The results speak for themselves: Freeform went from producing fewer than 100 parts in 2024 to shipping tens of thousands in 2025, supplying some of the world’s leading-edge frontier programs with parts and products that cannot be manufactured any other way. With demand far exceeding current capacity, 2026 brings a major inflection point, with the planned unveiling of Freeform’s next-generation factory system, Skyfall, capable of scaling throughput by another 25x. Utilizing hundreds of 1kW lasers in an automated factory architecture, Skyfall will mark a watershed moment for the manufacturing industry.
The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s hallmark franchise and one of its most anticipated editorial efforts of the year.
“Our list of the Most Innovative Companies is about spotlighting organizations that don’t just adapt to change—they drive it. The companies we honor this year are redefining what leadership looks like in 2026, pairing bold ideas with measurable impact and turning breakthrough innovation into real-world value.”— Brendan Vaughan, Editor-in-Chief, Fast Company
The full list of honorees can now be found at fastcompany.com. It will also be available on newsstands beginning March 31, 2026.
From Fast Company: Factories rarely fail because engineers lack ideas. They fail because the machines that turn ideas into metal can't move fast enough without losing control. Freeform is attacking that trade-off head-on by turning metal 3D printing into a production-grade manufacturing system rather than a prototyping tool.
In 2025, Freeform deployed what it describes as the world's highest-throughput laser metal printing architecture: an 18-laser, always-on system designed to run continuously while maintaining aerospace-grade tolerances. The approach uses real-time sensing, GPU-accelerated machine learning, and microsecond-level control to monitor and adjust the physics of each print as it happens.
The company scaled from producing fewer than 100 parts in 2024 to manufacturing thousands of validated metal components in 2025, including parts qualified for aerospace and defense applications. It operates a factory-as-a-service model, supplying finished components directly to customers that need speed, repeatability, and certification.
That operational shift has translated into early commercial traction. Over the past year, Freeform grew from zero recurring revenue to a reported $7 million annual run rate, with demand already exceeding current capacity. Backed by strategic investors including NVIDIA and Boeing, Freeform is positioning high-speed, AI-controlled additive manufacturing as a viable alternative to traditional metal production for mission-critical industries.
