36Kr Exclusive | Qiming Venture Partners Leads Solely in a Niche Hardware Company, Which Has Completed a Crowdfunding Campaign of Millions of US Dollars

Author | Zhang Ziyi

Editor | Yuan Silai

Yingke has learned that Makera Technology Co., Ltd., an innovative domestic consumer - grade CNC enterprise, has announced the completion of a Pre - A round of financing worth tens of millions of RMB. This round of financing was exclusively led by Qiming Venture Partners. The funds will be mainly used for the R & D iteration of core technologies, capacity expansion, and the construction of global market channels.

Founded in 2019, Makera provides intelligent and user - friendly digital manufacturing tools for global makers, small and medium - sized enterprises, and educational institutions. It has successively launched two generations of CNC equipment. Its flagship product, Carvera, is the world's first intelligent desktop CNC product. The crowdfunding result of the second - generation Carvera Air reached 3.47 million US dollars.

Although CNC equipment may seem unfamiliar, the products produced and processed by it are everywhere. Industrial - grade CNC is the core equipment in traditional manufacturing and is widely used in almost all fields that require precision machining. It is the "basic tool" for industrial product production, with application scenarios including aerospace, consumer electronics 3C, and mold equipment.

Like 3D printers and laser engravers, CNC belongs to the category of computer numerical control but uses different processing technologies. Laser engraving is a two - dimensional processing method, 3D printing is an additive manufacturing method, and CNC is a subtractive manufacturing method. In terms of material usage, consumer - grade 3D printer products mainly use plastics and resins, which have limited strength and hardness. Consumer - grade CNC equipment can process materials such as metals and wood. All three types of consumer - grade products can cover makers, geeks, and small - business users, among which consumer - grade CNC equipment is a more emerging field.

The revenue of Tuozhu exceeding 5 billion, the revenue of xTool exceeding 2 billion, and the record - breaking crowdfunding result of eufy Make worth tens of millions of US dollars have all proven the huge potential of the overseas maker community and small - business entrepreneurs.

Yingke has learned that Makera will launch its third product, Makera Z1, in the fourth quarter of 2025. This product is positioned as a "thousand - dollar - level" desktop CNC, offering professional - grade processing performance at an entry - friendly price. At the same time, it will launch the fully self - developed Makera Studio intelligent CAM toolpath generation platform and the CNC content community Makerables for global makers. With the integration of hardware, software, and content, more makers can truly afford, learn, and master the use of the equipment. The goal is to transform desktop CNC from a "factory - exclusive" tool into a powerful tool accessible to everyone.

New product Makera Z1 (Source/Enterprise)

Technologically, Makera aims to adapt industrial - grade CNC technology for ordinary consumers. Taking its flagship product, the Carvera intelligent desktop - grade CNC, as an example, it is the first to integrate an industrial - grade closed - loop control system into a desktop device, achieving a processing accuracy of 0.01 mm. The device is equipped with an automatic tool - changing system and an automatic detection and leveling function, which completely solves the industry problem of traditional desktop CNCs that require frequent manual intervention. The unique built - in dust collection system design not only keeps the processing environment clean but also effectively reduces the health risks associated with dangerous materials such as carbon fiber and glass fiber. The optional fourth - axis module enables the device to have three - dimensional processing capabilities, meeting the full - scenario requirements from plane engraving to complex 3D workpiece processing, and expanding the application boundaries of desktop - grade devices to professional fields such as PCB manufacturing and precision part processing.

Zhang Qiuxi told Yingke: "One of the difficulties in using CNC equipment is changing the tool head. Many consumer - grade CNC products require using a wrench to tighten screws to change the tool head, which takes at least two or three minutes. The advantage of our automatic tool - changing system is that after pre - setting, it can automatically change tools during the processing, which is safer and faster."

In terms of software, Makera's self - developed cross - platform CAM software, Makera Studio, provides a one - stop solution for toolpath generation and processing management. It supports a complete process chain including 2D plane processing, 3D surface processing, rapid PCB prototyping, and 4 - axis rotary processing. It has a built - in intelligent tool library, material and tool templates, and automatic parameter recommendation, and can generate downloadable G - code with one click. It is equipped with visual simulation and collision detection, processing progress monitoring, and remote issuing functions, and realizes the sharing of design resources and quick start - up through cloud templates and Makerables content community materials. With intuitive interactive guidance, preset workflows, and teaching examples, Makera Studio not only meets professional needs but also significantly lowers the learning threshold of CNC.

Software usage effect (Source/Enterprise)

"Traditional industrial - grade CNC equipment is like a heavy - duty truck that requires a professional driver's license, while we aim to create an autonomous vehicle in the field of digital manufacturing," said Zhang Qiuxi. "The core competitiveness of Makera lies not only in the hardware itself but also in building a complete consumer - grade CNC tool ecosystem."

In the future, in addition to continuously upgrading and iterating the main - unit hardware, Makera plans to gradually improve various accessory products and consumables, integrate more AI functions, and further lower the threshold for using CNC equipment.

Investor's view:

Ye Guantai, a partner at Qiming Venture Partners, said: "Makera is the world's first desktop - grade CNC brand that takes 'greatly reducing the user's usage threshold' as its core starting point and is currently the best - recognized product in the industry by professional players: from the multiple innovative functional designs of the hardware to the self - developed zero - threshold CAM software. The company will next launch the entry - level model Makera Z1 (which won the 'Best in Content Creation' award at the 2025 IFA). At the same time, with the continuous maturity of the upcoming user community Makerables empowered by AIGC, we believe that Makera's desktop - grade CNC products can enter thousands of households like 3D printers, allowing more makers and even ordinary C - end consumers to easily experience the ultimate precision that CNC shows in processing various materials such as wood and metal."