Materialise was founded in June 1990 by Wilfried Vancraen and his wife Hilde Ingelaere as a Rapid Prototyping service bureau.

These personalised guides were utilised during surgery to show surgeons bone cutting and drilling locations to apply implants.

[citation needed] Demand for prototypes grew, leading Materialise to develop its Mammoth Stereolithography systems, which are capable of printing single-piece models with dimensions of more than 2 meters in the Y axis.

[citation needed] In the year 2000, hearing aid specialist Phonak approached Materialise to develop the Rapid Shell Modeling (RSM) software.

[citation needed] The following year, in 2004, Materialise introduced its 3-matic software, allowing 3D printer users to edit files directly in the STL format.

In 2006 Materialise launched RapidFit, developed as a 3D printed solution for shipping large parts with customized jigs and fixtures to prevent deformation or breakage while in transit.

Materialise HQ, Leuven, also acquired and started testing the multi jet fusion (MJF) process from HP.