Nippon Express (NX) Holdings has acquired an equity stake in Japan-based startup Instalimb, which is expanding its 3D-printed prosthetics business in the Philippines, India and elsewhere overseas.

Through this investment, NX will be assisting Instalimb's business expansion from a logistics perspective and supporting the provision of prosthetic limbs in Asian countries such as the Philippines and India and, in future, emerging countries in Africa and other regions as well.

Instalimb develops new digital manufacturing solutions using 3D-printing and artificial intelligence (AI) technology, employing these to manufacture and sell 3D-printed prosthetic legs overseas at one-tenth the conventional price and with a shorter delivery time. The company began operating in the Philippines in 2019 and in India in 2022, and has already received positive feedback from more than 2,500 users.