Carbon vs PTC
Side-by-side comparison of AI visibility scores, market position, and capabilities
Carbon is the leading DLS 3D printing platform at a $2.4B valuation; raised $742M total including a $60M round in Nov 2025 from Sequoia and Silver Lake, with IPO plans in 12-24 months.
About
Carbon is an advanced manufacturing company that pioneered Digital Light Synthesis (DLS), a continuous 3D printing process that produces parts with mechanical properties comparable to injection-molded components at production scale. Founded in 2013 by Dr. Joseph DeSimone and colleagues from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carbon's technology unlocks the use of additive manufacturing for end-use production parts rather than merely prototypes. Its platform integrates hardware (printers), software (Design Engine and cloud management), and an expanding library of engineering-grade resins.
Boston industrial CAD/PLM software (NASDAQ: PTC); FY2025 8.5% ARR growth, Kepware/ThingWorx IoT divested to TPG (Nov 2025) under new CEO Neil Barua competing with Siemens Teamcenter for discrete manufacturer PLM.
About
PTC Inc. is a Boston, Massachusetts-based industrial software company — publicly traded on NASDAQ (NASDAQ: PTC) as an S&P 500 component — providing computer-aided design (CAD), product lifecycle management (PLM), application lifecycle management (ALM), service lifecycle management (SLM), and industrial IoT software to manufacturers across aerospace, defense, automotive, medical devices, and industrial machinery. In FY2025 (fiscal year ended September 30, 2025), PTC reported 8.5% ARR growth and 16% free cash flow growth, with Q4 FY2025 revenue up 39% in constant currency and 18% year-over-year. CEO Neil Barua took over from long-tenured CEO James Heppelmann in February 2024 and introduced the "Barua Blueprint" refocusing PTC on its core CAD/PLM/ALM/SLM strengths. In November 2025, PTC announced the divestiture of its industrial IoT assets — Kepware and ThingWorx — to TPG, sharpening its portfolio around design and lifecycle management software. PTC's product portfolio includes Creo (3D parametric CAD for mechanical engineers), Windchill (PLM for product data and process management), Onshape (cloud-native CAD platform), and Arena (cloud-native PLM/QMS).
Key Details
Capabilities & Ecosystem
Also Compare
Track AI Visibility in Real Time
Monitor how your brand performs across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Grok daily.