UMakers

What UMakers does

UMakers is a privately held, community-driven makerspace headquartered at 840 W 9th Street in Upland, California, founded in 2015 and operating under the MIT Fablab Charter. The company provides shared access to digital fabrication equipment — including FDM 3D printing (up to 250 x 200 x 200 mm at 0.2 mm resolution in PLA), an 80W CO2 laser cutter/engraver (28" x 20" bed), a Shopbot Buddy CNC router (32" x 96" cutting area, 5" depth), wide-format printing, and vinyl cutting — for hobbyists, engineers, artists, entrepreneurs, inventors, and freelancers in the Inland Empire region of Southern California.

The business operates a hybrid model combining recurring membership subscriptions (with 24/7 tool access and shared overhead) and pay-per-use professional fabrication services priced competitively (3D printing at 50% of Craft Cloud rates; laser at $20/hour). Non-members can submit STL or vector files via email and pay at pickup through cash, PayPal, or Venmo. The company also runs classes, workshops, meetups, and content marketing through an active blog, Instagram, Facebook, Yelp, and Meetup presence.

UMakers is founder-operated (primary contact "Rob"), with no disclosed equity funding, headcount, parent entity, or named enterprise customers. Its value proposition centers on reducing the capital barrier to industrial-grade fabrication and providing a collaborative creative community, explicitly positioned as a "gym for makers." Growth, expansion, and financial scale signals are limited to continued content publishing and steady single-site operations.

Name

UMakers

Legal name

UMakers

Website

https://umakers.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

UMakers is a privately held, community-driven makerspace in Upland, California, providing shared access to 3D printing, laser cutting/engraving, CNC routing, and related fabrication tools for hobbyists, engineers, artists, entrepreneurs, inventors, and freelancers across the Inland Empire.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Fabrication Services

akta.pro primary industry

Makerspaces & Fab Labs (Open Build Studios) (EDAMADAC)

Keywords

• Digital fabrication services
• Community makerspace
• 3D printing services
• Laser engraving services
• CNC router services

Headquarters

HQ city

Upland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Membership Subscriptions: Ongoing membership access to workspace and equipment with 24/7 access hours (9am-9pm). Members share overhead costs enabling low-cost access.
2. 3D Printing Services: Pay-per-use 3D printing for non-members. Price is 50% of Craft Cloud market rate. Customers email STL files and pay upon pickup via cash, PayPal, or Venmo.
3. Laser Engraving Services: Laser cutting/engraving services at $20/hour for non-members. File formats accepted: AI, EPS, SVG, PDF. Customers must pick up at location.
4. CNC Router Services: CNC routing services using Shopbot Buddy. Can import 2D data (DXF, EPS, AI, SVG, PDF) and 3D mesh files (STL, OBJ, 3DS, VRML, etc.). Can design and fabricate for customers who bring materials.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

UMakers operates a community-driven makerspace in Upland, California offering on-demand digital fabrication services including 3D printing, laser cutting/engraving, CNC routing, vinyl cutting, wide format printing, and CNC milling. The business provides both pay-per-use professional fabrication services for non-members and subscription-based membership access to industrial-grade digital fabrication tools and workspace, serving as a collaborative hub for inventors, artists, entrepreneurs, engineers, and hobbyists.

Product overview

UMakers is a community-driven makerspace and collaborative workspace in Upland, California, offering on-demand fabrication services rather than a unified software product. The core service portfolio consists of three primary manufacturing services: 3D Printing Services (producing parts up to 250x200x200mm in PLA at 0.2mm resolution), Laser Cutting and Engraving Services (80W CO2 laser, 28x20 inch bed at $20/hour), and CNC Router Services (ShopBot Buddy with 32x96x5 inch capacity). These are supplemented by wide format printing and CNC milling capabilities. The offering also includes membership programs providing access to industrial equipment and digital fabrication tools, plus educational classes and workshops. The business model centers on providing low-cost digital design and fabrication services during off-peak hours, with costs kept low through member-shared overhead.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• MIT Fab Foundation / Fablab NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUMakers is inspired by MIT's Fablabs and operates under the Fablab Charter. This affiliation provides access to the global Fab Lab network standards, methodologies, and community resources for digital fabrication.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Noisebridge: San Francisco community hackerspace with open-access 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC tools, supported by donations and member culture. Comparable to UMakers in non-profit/community ethos and digital fabrication focus, though in a different geography.
• NYC Resistor: Brooklyn-based hackerspace and makerspace providing member access to 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC, and electronics workbenches. Closely aligned with UMakers in community-driven model, Fab-Lab-style equipment set, and target member base.
• Artisan's Asylum: Large community makerspace in Somerville, MA offering 3D printing, laser cutting, CNC, electronics, and textiles to members. Directly comparable to UMakers as a membership-based, multi-discipline digital fabrication space serving inventors, artists, and entrepreneurs.
• NextFab: Philadelphia-based makerspace offering memberships, classes, and on-demand fabrication services including 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC. Closely matches UMakers' hybrid membership-plus-service model and target customer segments.

Broad incumbents

• Xometry: On-demand manufacturing marketplace offering CNC, 3D printing, sheet metal, and more to enterprise customers. Comparable to UMakers' service-bureau business in 3D printing and CNC routing but at a vastly broader material, scale, and customer-segment level.
• Protolabs (Hubs): Global on-demand manufacturing platform for prototyping and low-volume production, including 3D printing, CNC, and injection molding. Comparable to UMakers' service offerings but targets engineers and procurement teams with automated instant quoting versus walk-in local service.
• Shapeways: Large-scale online 3D printing service bureau serving consumers and professionals with on-demand parts in multiple materials. Comparable to UMakers' pay-per-use 3D printing service but operates at vastly greater scale, broader material range, and ships nationally versus local pickup.
• Craft Cloud: Online 3D printing marketplace aggregating service bureaus worldwide. UMakers explicitly prices its 3D printing at 50% of Craft Cloud's market rate, making it a direct pricing benchmark and competing service channel for the same on-demand print customers.

Others

• TechShop: Former large-chain U.S. makerspace (founded 2006, filed bankruptcy 2017) that pioneered the multi-site commercial makerspace model. Relevant historical benchmark for UMakers' membership-plus-services approach and the capital intensity challenges of scaling makerspaces.
• Fab Foundation: MIT-affiliated non-profit operating the global Fab Lab network of which UMakers is a charter member. Relevant as the standards body and ecosystem that defines UMakers' operating model and connects it to peer labs worldwide.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/umakersink
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCqkhkxqPPLdtYy8ybykTlzQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/umakers
• Instagraminstagram.com/umakersmakerspace
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/umakers-makerspace

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about UMakers