Mcor Technologies, the Ireland-based 3-D printing company with professional 3-D printers that use ordinary copy paper as its primary material, recently announced a 6.6 million-euro round of private equity funding from WHEB Partners. With over 800% revenue growth since 2012, Mcor is now well capitalized to further support international expansion, which has been experiencing strong demand in recent years. Where Mcor has an advantage over 3D Systems (DDD 0.57%) and Stratasys (SSYS 0.61%) is operating costs. Because its 3-D printers utilize copy paper found in offices worldwide, it costs anywhere from five to 30 times less to operate Mcor's printers compared to competing 3D Systems and Stratasys products.

A paper 3-D printed T. Rex. Source: Mcor Technologies.

Mcor's sub-$50,000 Iris 3-D printer is truly full-color, meaning it can change colors pixel by pixel, for a price that's unheard in the industry; 3D Systems' and Stratasys' color-based 3-D printers cost well into the six-figure range. Granted, Mcor's 3-D printers are more limited in scope in the sense that they're really only suited for early prototyping and conceptual models, but they could still resonate well at design firms that produce a high volume of models and early prototypes. After several years of ownership, Mcor's 3-D printers boast the potential to save designers literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in operating costs compared Stratasys' and 3D Systems' machines.

Despite this most recent round of funding, it isn't likely that Mcor will be going public anytime soon. In the following video, 3-D printing specialist Steve Heller asks Mcor CEO Conor MacCormack about the company's plans to go public. Still, 3D Systems and Stratasys investors should continue to monitor Mcor's developments – just in case they're material the investing thesis.

A transcript follows the video.

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Steve Heller: Final question for you today; I know you're doing very well. It sounds like the company is growing. Do you have any plans to go public in the future?

Conor MacCormack: Well, we've made a decision. We're in the process of doing a very big funding round in the company, so we've made the decision to build the company up, to develop this new IP that we've filed, to bring these new products to market. Then we'll see what happens.

I think people are almost putting pressure -- "You need to IPO because the market's going to stay open" -- but if you have a very good product, and you have a very good company, I think the market will always be open.

We believe that we'll be in that situation this year or next year. We'll have a very well-established pipeline of dealers, very successful growth like we've seen over the last couple of years, and the new products that are about to come on the market.

It will be a very good story, and we'll see what happens then. My goal is to build this company up to be a multibillion-dollar company, in whatever way that happens -- if we can do it just by raising our own money, if we need to go IPO -- but the main thing is that we get these products out, and we get these new machines out and [unclear]. Whatever's the best way for that to happen.

Heller: Sure, so it's more about the best interests of your business. You're not thinking short side, you're thinking long-term and how to strategically place your business to win over the future.

MacCormack: Yes. I think a mistake that a lot of people think in this industry is that all the innovation is done. They think that whatever eight or 10 platforms, that there's no more innovation going on. Like that famous quote from the patent office, that you might as well close the patent office ...

Heller: Exactly.

MacCormack: I know we are working on some stuff that's really ground-breaking. I know people throw that around a lot, like "the next revolution" and all, but we have some stuff that is really, really new.

I'm sure some of these other companies are doing the same, and if these pan out, who knows what's going to happen in the future? We really believe in our R&D's strengths, and we believe that these products will come to market, and we believe that Mcor can be a very, very big company in the future.

Heller: Great. Thank you so much, Conor, we really appreciate your time.

MacCormack: No problem. Very nice meeting you, Steve.