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The Micro 3D printer tops $1M on Kickstarter in one day

Surpassing its $50,000 funding goal in 11 minutes, the miniature consumer 3D printer takes the crowdfunding world by storm.

Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
Dara Kerr
2 min read

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The compact Micro can print objects up to 4.6 inches tall. M3D

The cute, little, Micro 3D printer appears to be a very hot commodity.

Just 11 minutes after launching on Kickstarter on Monday, the device met its funding goal of $50,000. And, 25 hours later, The Micro surpassed $1 million in funding. At the time of this writing, one day after launch, the 3D printer has more than $1.35 million in funding from nearly 5,000 backers.

Overwhelmed by the outpouring of support, The Micro's design team posted an update to their Kickstarter page on Tuesday thanking their hundreds of funders.

"So much has happened since we launched the campaign yesterday. It's hard to believe that only 30 hours have gone by," the team wrote. "You've shown the world that we are ready for a new consumer product category."

Touting it as "the first truly consumer 3D printer," the team behind The Micro, M3D, has worked to design an easy-to-use, low-cost, 7-inch tall printer. The device can print smaller items, such as a vase, custom cookie cutters, or cat toys. The Micro can auto-level and auto-calibrate and will also work with open-source software for more advanced users.

On The Micro's Kickstarter page, hundreds of the project's backers posted elated comments about the upcoming device.

"Finally an affordable 3D-printer! yay! Been wanting for that since almost two years now," wrote Daniel Otterbein. "I always wanted a 3d printer... but at those prices getting one was only a dream... you made my dream true with this $300 printer... I can't thank you enough," wrote Sherif.

The Micro is slated to be in consumers' hands by late 2014 or early 2015. In its Tuesday update, M3D wrote that the Kickstarter campaign backers are the company's first priority and it plans to keep its product delivery schedule.

"We also want you to know that we are committed to maintaining delivery schedules," M3D wrote. "We always planned to eventually go into high-volume production. The additional pledges help us meet our production goals."