3M Company, Inc., said Thursday that its venture-capital arm, New Ventures, has invested in a Germany-based printed electronics firm.

Maplewood-based 3M didn't reveal how much of a stake it purchased in Chemnitz, Germany-based Printechnologics or disclose further details about the deal.

Printechnologics develops custom alternatives to conventional printing methods. 3M said in a statement that Printechnologics technologies can facilitate a broad range of solutions across business-to-business and business-to-consumer channels-which presents significant growth opportunity and global market potential.

“Among others, we [will] explore anti-fraud solutions that could save billions of dollars for our customers, Voyl Divljakovic, vice president and general manager of 3M's electronic solutions division, said in a statement. “Possible applications are smart packaging to prevent counterfeiting or anti-fraud solutions in the gaming market in connection with our multi-touch displays.”

3M New Ventures is based in Seefield, Germany. 3M-which provides technologies for the consumer, electronics, health care, industrial, and transportation markets-is among Minnesota's 10-largest public companies based on its 2008 revenue of $25.3 billion. The company reported revenue of $23.1 billion in 2009.