The Innovate Indiana Fund and GE Ventures were among investors who recently contributed $5.75 million in seed funds to San Francisco-based MatterFab, which aims to use the money to develop an affordable metal 3-D printer.

As commercial demand increases for 3-D printers, the traditional price for such a device is often in excess of $1 million. In a 2004 news release, MatterFab stated that its design of 3-D metal printers is “an order of magnitude” cheaper and is the first powder bed, fusion metal 3-D printer. Such manufacturing methods can produce items such as injection molds, custom medical implants and lightweight aircraft parts that save on fuel costs.

Both of MatterFab’s founders have Indiana ties. Matt Burris grew up around his family’s aerospace machine shop in Indianapolis, while Dave Warren earned a masters degree from IU Bloomington in 2012.

There are interesting side notes about both. Earlier in his career, while working as an electrical engineer with the U.S. Department of Defense, Warren served on a team that successfully shot down an inoperable spy satellite from low earth orbit from the USS Lake Erie. As for Burris, he has served as a facilitator and organizer for Startup Weekend, a nationwide entrepreneurial education effort, in Bloomington and at Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane.

Read more about the funding round here: