Get All Access for $5/mo

This 3-D Printing Pen Hits $50,000 Kickstarter Goal In Two Hours The Lix pen shot past its fundraising goal in no time. The campaign, now in its second day, has raised almost $250,000.

By Catherine Clifford

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

When we heard about the pen that allows you to doodle in three dimensions, we first thought, "Huh?!?" And then we thought, "Cool!"

Turns out, we weren't alone.

The Lix 3-D Pen surpassed its funding goal of 30,000 pounds – or about $50,000 -- on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter within two hours of going live. Now in its second day, the campaign has raised almost $250,000.

Doodling in 3-D may be a hard concept to get your brain around. It helps if you watch the video below. The Lix pen is smaller and more nimble than the larger, bulkier first-generation 3-D printing pens. The gadget melts plastic and cools it rapidly so that the user can move his or her hand around in space and leave a line.

Related: Re-Making Manufacturing in the United States

The device was created by a team of three inventors in Europe -- Delphine Eloise Wood, Anton Suvorov, and Ismail Baran -- and the company is headquartered in London. The challenge for the team was to make existing 3-D printing technology smaller.

"The technology which is used in Lix Pen was developed from scratch. Our main goal was to create a professional tool which is easy to use and will have a high comfort," the team wrote on the Kickstarter campaign. "The most difficult problem for us was to reduce the size of the mechanical parts, reposition them and let them work together."

As part of the Lix fundraise, a pledge of approximately $70 will get a customer a single 3-D printing pen. For about $135, a customer will get a single Lix 3-D printing pen and three bags of plastic -- essentially, the pen's "ink" -- to use in creating works with the pen.

Related: From Relic to Beacon: Brooklyn Navy Yard Gets New Life as Cutting-Edge Manufacturing Hub

Catherine Clifford

Senior Entrepreneurship Writer at CNBC

Catherine Clifford is senior entrepreneurship writer at CNBC. She was formerly a senior writer at Entrepreneur.com, the small business reporter at CNNMoney and an assistant in the New York bureau for CNN. Clifford attended Columbia University where she earned a bachelor's degree. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. You can follow her on Twitter at @CatClifford.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

Is One Company to Blame for Soaring Rental Prices in the U.S.?

The FBI recently raided a major corporate landlord while investigating a rent price-fixing scheme. Here's what we know.

Business News

The Most Downloaded News App in the U.S. May Have Published Dozens of Fake, AI-Written Stories

The stories were fake but had real-world consequences for the app's 50 million monthly users.

Side Hustle

This Former Starbucks Employee Started a Side Hustle That's Making More Than $70,000 a Month — and He's Not Done Yet

When Tom Saar moved to New York City, he spotted a lucrative business opportunity.

Business News

She Tracked Her Missing Luggage With an Apple Device — Straight to an Airport Employee's Home

Paola Garcia flew into Terminal 4 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport last month when she noticed her luggage never made it to the carousel — then her Apple Watch started pinging.

Growing a Business

3 Non-Financial Factors That Could Impact Your Business' Value

For healthy companies that want to maximize their value, the qualitative indicators can be bundled into three main categories.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.