Das Kapital setzt erneut sein Augenmerk auf 3D-Druck.
“Share my latest discoveries – 3D printing!”
“Since I got a 3D printer, I have the freedom to create figurines.”
Similar content is going viral on social platforms. There are already over 2 million posts about “3D printing”. From anime collectible figurines to home improvement, this once niche technology for geeks is increasingly becoming part of people's daily lives.
Capital movements also indirectly reflect the heat of the industry. Within just two months at the end of 2025, there were successive important investment and financing news in the 3D printing industry:
In November, drone giant DJI made its first foray into another industry and made a strategic investment of hundreds of millions of yuan in 3D printing company SmartPie Technology, officially announcing its entry into this field.
In December, Snapmaker soon completed a Series B financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan. The round was co - led by Hillhouse Capital and Meituan, followed by Shunwei Capital, Meituan Longzhu, and Nanshan Strategic Emerging Industry Investment.
At the same time, industry leader Creality 3D has submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and aims to enter the secondary market. Another hidden giant, TROZ Technology, has not launched an IPO yet, but its annual delivery volume has already exceeded one million units…
The once quiet 3D printing industry is experiencing an unexpected collective revival in 2025. Is this wave of enthusiasm a short - term return of capital or the turning point where Chinese 3D printing really enters mass production?
Capital Flows into 3D Printing
The rise of the industry didn't come out of nowhere. Most notably, there was an industry crisis triggered by DJI's cross - border investment.
Last month, 3D printing company SmartPie Technology completed a Series B financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan. The investor was DJI Innovation. This low - key industrial value investment came into the public spotlight due to a post in the WeChat Moments of Tao Ye, the founder of TROZ Technology.
Tao Ye wrote that his former employer, DJI, “included special clauses against TROZ Technology in the agreement” in its recent investment in SmartPie Technology, implying that TROZ Technology might be “encircled” by DJI.
This statement quickly caught the industry's attention. Before founding TROZ Technology, Tao Ye worked at DJI for eight years and was the head of DJI Innovation's consumer drone department. He led the development of star products like the Mavic Pro.
In the face of external speculation, DJI stated that this investment was solely based on the belief that consumer 3D printing technology had great potential for the future and the growth of the industry. This was in line with its consistent foresight regarding advanced hardware science. It did not directly address the “targeted clauses”.
Behind these internal conflicts within the “DJI family” lies an even more interesting signal: Even the drone giant wants to get personally involved in the fight, which means that 3D printing, once regarded as a “niche toy for geeks”, is back in the spotlight of mainstream technological forces.
In fact, DJI's cross - border strategy is just the tip of the iceberg. The intensive participation of market - oriented venture capitalists further underlines the heat of the industry.
In December, Snapmaker announced the completion of a Series B financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan. This round was co - led by Hillhouse Capital and Meituan, followed by Shunwei Capital, Meituan Longzhu, and Nanshan Strategic Emerging Industry Investment. The old shareholders Tongchuang Weiye and Orient Securities Capital continued their investments.
In the same month, electron - beam metal 3D printing company Cybertron Technology announced the completion of a Pre - Series A financing. This round was jointly carried out by Liandong Fengye and Tuotan Xinwei.
Looking back to September this year, digital dental 3D printing company RAYSHAPE announced the completion of a Pre - Series B financing worth thousands of yuan. The round was co - led by the Xingqi Fund of Falcon Investment and Xieli Investment, followed by Orient Securities Capital.
In the same month, Atom Reshape announced the completion of a Series A financing. The investors were Junke Danmu and C Cornerstone Capital, which gave impetus to its attack on the consumer 3D printing market.
Besides these individual financing cases, a series of key figures more clearly reflect the rising heat of the industry. According to data from Nanji Xiong 3D Printing, the number of financing events in the Chinese 3D printing industry generally remained between 30 and 40 in recent years. In 2025, the number of financing events directly rose to 100 (involving 81 companies, some companies were financed 2 - 3 times), which is almost three times the previous value.
Source: Nanji Xiong 3D Printing
The dimension of financing amounts also confirms the capital heat of the industry. According to the same data source, the total volume of financing in the Chinese 3D printing industry in 2025 was approximately 8.4 billion yuan, a record high and reversing the downward trend of 2024. However, the financing in the industry did not increase continuously. From 2023 - 2024, the industry was under pressure due to the general market conditions in the capital market.
It is worth noting that the total volume of financing in the industry rose to 7.3 billion yuan in 2023, mainly due to two large - scale financings: a private placement of over 3 billion yuan by BLT Advanced Technology and a listing application of Farsoon Technologies on the STAR Market with a financing of 1.105 billion yuan. In 2024, the financing amount declined due to the lack of such large - scale financings and the weak market situation. The explosive growth in 2025 could mean that the financing in the industry is returning to a normalized growth path.
Source: Nanji Xiong 3D Printing
According to data from CVSource of Touzhong Jiachuan, the companies invested in this year can be roughly divided into two categories: on the one hand, 3D printing companies targeting the consumer market, and on the other hand, providers of new materials or comprehensive technology solutions for the industry.
Source: Touzhong Jiachuan
A deeper trend is that not only market - oriented funds but also industrial capital from local governments are driving this wave of enthusiasm. Capital is no longer just chasing concepts but is betting on real needs and supporting technologies that actually improve efficiency.
Market - oriented venture capitalists such as Meituan Longzhu, Hillhouse Capital, Tongchuang Weiye, and Legend Capital have all made investments this year. In addition, early - stage investment institutions founded by state - owned capitals in different regions have also stood out. For example, the industrial machinery fund managed by Guoqi Yuanhe has invested in two relevant companies in the industry this year, Anhui Sharing Intelligent Equipment and Guilin Shichuang Technology, which shows the recognition of the long - term value of the industry by industrial capital.
Why 3D Printing?
In fact, the revival of the 3D printing industry is not a blind speculation of capital but an inevitable result of technological breakthroughs.
3D printing technology itself is not new. This technological trend started over a decade ago. However, problems such as “high costs, slow speed, and difficulties in mass production” have long hindered the scaled - up development of the industry.
In recent years, a series of key technological breakthroughs have accelerated the development of the industry. With the import substitution of core components such as lasers and galvanometer mirrors, the manufacturing costs of devices have been directly and significantly reduced. Take devices using the common FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) technology as an example. In 2019, the average price of entry - level products was still over 3,000 yuan. Now, some products are in the range of 1,000 to 3,000 yuan.
In addition, the intensive integration of AI technology and 3D printing is becoming increasingly popular. AI tools enable users to generate 3D models through simple text descriptions or image input without the need for professional modeling skills. This greatly simplifies the creation process.
The significant reduction in material costs and the diversity of the material system further expand the application areas of 3D printing. Take PLA plastic, which is commonly used in the consumer 3D printing industry, as an example. The price has dropped to about 40 yuan per kilogram, a reduction of over 50% compared to a few years ago. In addition to traditional plastic materials, new materials such as carbon fiber composites, environmentally friendly resins, and metal powders are also beginning to appear more frequently.
The maturity of the technology and the reduction in costs have also made the value judgment direction of investors who have been active in this industry for a long time clearer. Tongchuang Weiye has been tracking relevant targets in 3D printing for years, including 3D printing materials, devices, services, and even platforms. In the past, it has invested in Hengpu Laser, which focuses on the 3D printing technology of metal - ceramic composites, and Zhongzhixin Ying, which focuses on metal 3D printing for high - precision markets such as high - performance molds and aerospace.
According to Wang Jing of Tongchuang Weiye, 3D printing will ultimately return to the essence of material shaping, especially in the industrial scenario, and will be implemented as part of many processes into specific products. From the perspective of this investor, the investment logic in the current 3D printing industry has changed from “technological curiosity” to “value realization”.
Liu Huaping, an investment manager of an industrial fund in Beijing, said: “In the face of the increasingly strong trend of import substitution in 3D printing, we should remain rational while promising the future of the industry and support the development of companies that truly have strong technologies towards high - tech and internationalization. We should not just invest for the sake of investing but make value investments rather than price investments.”
Both investors emphasized that the real opportunities in the 3D printing industry do not lie in short - term concept speculation but in whether the technology can actually be converted into scalable industrial value. This consensus could become the core logic of the current capital strategy in this industry.
The continuous strengthening at the policy level has given an additional boost to the industry development. In 2024, the “Recommendation on Accelerating the Establishment of a Waste Recycling System” encouraged the use of recycled 3D printing materials. In 2025, eight ministries including the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the “Recommendation on Strengthening the Digital Consumer Economy and Creating a Better Life in the Digital Era”, which clearly stated that desktop 3D printers are among the key directions of “digital product consumption”.
Under the superposition of multiple favorable factors, the industry hierarchy has clearly taken shape. According to the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, in terms of sales, the top - tier companies in the Chinese 3D printing industry are Creality 3D and Anycubic. They focus on consumer 3D printers and have an annual sales volume of over 1 billion yuan.
The second - tier includes companies such as BLT Advanced Technology, Shining 3D, and Guangyunda. The average annual sales volume is between 100 million and 1 billion yuan. BLT Advanced Technology is one of the leading providers of industrial 3D printers and has significant technological advantages and market shares in the metal 3D printing industry. Shining 3D mainly specializes in 3D scanning and 3D printing devices.
The Huajing Industry Research Institute predicts that the global 3D printing market will reach a volume of 29.8 billion US dollars in 2025 and could rise to 85.3 billion US dollars by 2030. The share of the Chinese market will rise to 35%.
The Consumer 3D Printing Market is on the Verge of Take - off
For a long time, the