Proto Labs, Inc.
A digital manufacturer that makes custom plastic and metal parts on demand, offering rapid prototyping and production through injection molding, CNC machining, 3D printing, and sheet metal — serving everyone from startups to aerospace and medical companies. It was founded in 1999 in a Minnesota garage by engineer Larry Lukis, who wrote over a million lines of software to automate the slow process of getting prototype parts. That garage coding habit became its secret sauce: the company still uses software to quote and route parts, shipping many in as little as one day.