Ric Fulop

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT RIC FULOP

Ric Fulop is a tech entrepreneur, manufacturing and power systems expert. He founded and was CEO of Desktop Metal, the leading company in 3D printing for mass production (acquired by NNDM). Fulop is also co-founder of Lumafield, one of the largest producers of industrial CT systems. He\'s supplied technology used to make Tesla gigacasting molds, single crystal jet engine parts, structural components in P&W and Rolls Royce jet engines, parts for Formula 1 and LeMans, ultra high temperature ceramics, tungsten carbide tools sold by Sandvik and Kennametal, manufacturing of TRISO nuclear fuel by BWXT, molds used to make Boeing 787 wings, SiC mirrors for satellites and castings for Lockheed and Sikorsky. Before DM, Fulop was a VC at NorthBridge, a fund with $3B in AUM. He led the Series A in Onshape,(acquired +$600M by PTC). MarkForged the first continuous fiber 3D printer (nasdaq: MKFG). Salsify, a leader in search (used by +1100 of the top commerce sites). Dyn (acquired +$600M by Oracle). Fulop continues to invest in startups including Hadrian, an automated manufacturer of space parts and top supplier to SpaceX and HighArc, the market leader in generative design software for construction. Fulop was also a co-founder of A123Systems in 2001 with MIT Prof. Yet Ming Chiang, a company instrumental in the developing the first long life high-power lithium batteries and first to commercialize LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate). LFP is now used in +30% of EVs globally and is the leading solution for grid storage. When he founded A123Systems in 2001 they had only made a small 10g sample of its new material at MIT and at the time of his departure in 2010 it had a public market capitalization of $1.5 billion, 1800 employees and shipped hundreds of millions of dollars. Fulop\'s companies have generated patents and he is a co-inventor in 170 issued and pending. Fulop is a board member of Vicarious Surgical and former board member of Endeavor.org, the Electric Drive Transportation Association and Lytro (acq. Google). He\'s built manufacturing lines in the USA, Mexico, Germany, Taiwan, South Korea and China. Fulop was a member of the Board of Governors of the World Economic Forum Advanced Manufacturing initiative and a founding member of the Global Lighthouse Network, an effort by the WEF to identify advanced factories and share best practices.Fulop is an avid pilot with 350 hours of piston and 1100 hours of turbine.