Cubee

Based in Tel Aviv and Los Angeles, Cubee operates as a market network focused on bringing Industry 4.0 solutions to e-commerce through 3D printing. The company was founded in 2019 by Uriah Meadan, who has a background in philosophy, arts, and education, and his high school friend Oded Kishik, an industrial designer. Their journey began with the idea of creating a startup instead of attending business school, a concept that materialized when they both lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This event, coupled with the increased demand for locally produced items like face masks, prompted them to launch their platform, initially as a free, voluntary service connecting people with 3D printers to their local communities.

Cubee has since evolved from its initial concept of being an "Airbnb for 3D printing" into a company that provides a suite of tools for 3D printing businesses to launch and grow. The core of its offering is "Hive," a platform that provides commercial licenses for curated catalogs of 3D designs created by artists and designers. This service allows small to medium-sized businesses, such as 3D print shops and e-commerce retailers, to manufacture and sell high-quality 3D printed products without holding physical inventory. By producing items on-demand, clients can mitigate the financial risks of overproduction and align their output with real-time market demand.

The company's revenue is generated through a subscription-based model for its Hive service, which comes in several tiers like HiveCommunity, HivePlus, and HiveUnlimited. For exclusive, limited-seller catalogs (Hive+ and Unlimited), Cubee employs a trust-based royalty system, where sellers report their monthly sales and pay a 10% royalty to the designers, of which Cubee takes a 20% cut. For the broader, royalty-free HiveCommunity catalog, revenue from subscriptions is split, with 30% going to designers, 40% to marketing, and 30% to Cubee. In August 2023, the company launched "CubeeRecords," positioning itself as a record label for 3D designers, providing them with talent representation, marketing, and monetization of their intellectual property, further aligning the interests of designers, licensees, and the platform.

Keywords: 3D printing marketplace, commercial licensing, 3D designs, decentralized manufacturing, on-demand production, e-commerce solutions, digital assets, local manufacturing, sustainable commerce, additive manufacturing, product design, intellectual property monetization, Hive, CubeeRecords, Uriah Meadan, Oded Kishik, 3D print shops, online retail, supply chain disruption, digital inventory, royalty system, designer collaboration