Hillhouse and Meituan Join Forces to Scramble for 3D Printing

The long - dormant 3D printing industry has unexpectedly regained its popularity.

Recently, Shenzhen Snapmaker Technology Co., Ltd. (Snapmaker) has completed its Series B financing. This round of financing was jointly invested by institutions such as Meituan and Hillhouse Capital, and the specific amount has not been disclosed yet.

The last news about this company was disclosed in 2021. The boom in the 3D printing industry has long existed, but the consumer - grade 3D printing market was relatively sluggish until recently when it started to heat up. Some companies established about 10 years ago have recently carried out new financing activities. For example, Creality 3D, also from Shenzhen, is striving to become the "first consumer - grade 3D printing stock". The last financing information of this company was also disclosed in 2021, which was the only external financing it received in 11 years of operation. The investors included Tencent Ventures and Shenzhen Capital Group.

It can be said that the rise of the consumer - grade 3D printing track is closely related to the development of AI technology. For a long time, this industry was limited by the high threshold of modeling, and it was always difficult for ordinary users to participate. However, in recent years, with the popularization of generative AI modeling tools, even those who don't understand modeling can generate 3D models directly for printing through simple operations such as inputting text or uploading pictures. People can easily print small ornaments. As a result, the usage threshold has been extremely lowered, the emotional value has been maximized, and naturally, more people are willing to buy.

Investment institutions with a keen sense of smell will of course not miss this opportunity. As of now, the number of primary market investment and financing events in the entire 3D printing field this year has reached a five - year high. Take TROTEC, a unicorn valued at over 10 billion in the industry, as an example. This company was established in 2020, and its external financing record stopped in the second half of 2023.

The joint investment in Snapmaker by Meituan and Hillhouse Capital once again proves that Chinese consumer - grade hardware is increasingly attracting the attention of mainstream capital. With the certainty of leading projects and the closing of the financing window, institutions that missed the early - stage layout obviously need to speed up their search for the next target.

"Fame with One Machine"

Shenzhen Snapmaker Technology Co., Ltd., established in 2016, recently "became famous with one machine".

Its product, the Snapmaker U1, raised $20.22 million (approximately RMB 144 million) in a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, a globally well - known product fundraising platform, breaking the global 3D printer crowdfunding record. It attracted a total of 20,264 supporters, and the pre - order volume exceeded 20,000 units.

It is said that even the company itself didn't expect such a huge success. Before this, the star player in the consumer - grade 3D printer industry was another Shenzhen - based enterprise, TROTEC. Its product, the X1, raised approximately $7 million in a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.

The reason for the popularity of Snapmaker lies in solving two industry pain points: low efficiency in color - changing during printing and material waste.

When printing objects of the same size, in the mainstream multi - color printing solutions, single - color printing takes about 4 - 5 hours, and four - color printing takes about 20 - 30 hours. Among them, it takes about 2 minutes to change the color each time.

Secondly, there is the problem of material waste. In the current mainstream multi - color printing solutions in the market, every time the filament is changed, the original filament needs to be cut off and extruded. There are either pollution problems or material waste problems in the equipment. When printing a 50 - gram part, the waste of materials can be as high as 100 - 200 grams.

However, the Snapmaker U1 uses one power device with four tool heads, just like a multi - color pen with multiple refills. By retracting the original "refill" and switching to another one, the color can be changed. It can complete four - color printing that originally took 20 - 30 hours in 5 - 6 hours.

In fact, the entire consumer - grade 3D printing track has been heating up this year. Some investors revealed that the annual revenue of 3D printing brands in Shenzhen has basically exceeded 1 billion yuan. The revenue of the top three brands will basically exceed 2 billion yuan this year, and the compound growth rate of the entire industry in the past three years has exceeded 30%.

In addition, changes are also taking place in the primary market. According to incomplete statistics, as of now this year, the number of primary market investment and financing events in the entire 3D printing field has reached a five - year high, exceeding 40 cases, including Atom Reconstruction, Second Life, etc.

In September this year, Creality 3D submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, planning to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This enterprise, established in 2014, achieved an annual revenue of 1 billion yuan in 2020. By 2024, the company's total revenue was 2.288 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 30.4% in the past three years. In the first three months of this year, the company's revenue was 708 million yuan. According to the data disclosed in the prospectus, the post - investment valuation of Creality 3D in this round is approximately 6.5 billion yuan.

However, in the smart hardware circle, the successful product crowdfunding is just a very early and extremely limited stage. There is still a lot to do to survive in the fierce competition. For example, just one week after the launch of the Snapmaker U1, TROTEC Technology successively launched new products H2S and H2C equipped with the Vortek automatic hot - end switching solution, seemingly in response to the multi - tool - head solution.

Becoming Adults' New Toys with AI

3D printing is not something new. It emerged about 10 years ago. However, the consumer - grade 3D printing industry has never really achieved high - speed development. One of the important reasons is the high threshold of modeling, and it is still difficult for ordinary users to complete the design independently.

In the past two years, with the popularization of generative AI modeling tools, ordinary users can unlock 3D trendy toys in about three steps without knowing modeling.

Step one: Use an AI image - generation tool to transform a favorite flat picture into a 3D - style image.

Step two: Use 3D large - model software to create a model with one click. After selecting the "intelligent splitting" function, the system can automatically identify and decompose the model components. For parts that are not accurately identified, users can make fine - tuning with a virtual brush. This function has almost solved the previous technical pain point of "integrated models and difficult post - production refinement".

Step three: Simply import the generated model file into a 3D printer, and a physical object can be directly printed.

On social media platforms, there are various 3D - printed "masterpieces" circulating. Whether it is complex mechanical parts, exquisite artworks, dolls, or various practical daily necessities, models can be easily generated and printed. As long as one has imagination, they can DIY 3D - version figurines of various favorite anime characters, which is full of fun and has become an adult's "digital toy" that re - awakens creativity.

There is even an easier way. For example, on the MakerWorld community under TROTEC Technology, users of the creator type share pre - designed models for selection. Users can find their favorite models on the platform, and the model files, print configuration files (Print Profiles), and consumable parameters will be automatically packaged and bound. Then they can directly click to print. This "one - click printing" experience significantly reduces the learning threshold and trial - and - error cost for beginners, allowing more people to join the creation without pressure.

At the same time, the platform has also established a perfect creation incentive mechanism through the MakerReward incentive system. Designers can get points and cash rewards for uploading high - quality models, and users can participate in interactions by sharing printing results and writing feedback. It is reported that TROTEC Technology has invested a huge budget to incentivize creators. The total annual incentive amount is as high as hundreds of millions of yuan, and the income of top creators has exceeded 500,000 yuan.

The price reduction is also accelerating the product's popularity. Currently, the price of consumer - grade 3D printers has dropped by 60% compared to three years ago, and mainstream brands have started to focus on producing products priced between 2,000 and 3,000 yuan.

Booming Hardware Investment

The valuation of TROTEC in the capital market exceeds 30 billion yuan. Compared with companies whose performance has not been realized, such a market value is more tangible. However, in the early days, TROTEC was not in the sight of capital. The reason may be related to the strong "DJI flavor" of this enterprise.

TROTEC's CEO once served as the head of DJI's consumer - grade drone division, and almost all members of the founding team were once key employees of DJI. In terms of business strategy, TROTEC also adopted a "saturation investment" strategy similar to DJI's, that is, long - term investment, self - built system, and building a moat with engineering strength. Although this may have a better risk - reward ratio, it is still nerve - wracking for a startup company.

Just like missing DJI back then, many investors also missed TROTEC. This regret forces them to actively look for similar targets. So, when the new product of Snapmaker had a successful crowdfunding campaign, the primary market immediately responded with a doubled valuation. Some media reported that more than a dozen investment intention letters from leading institutions were sent to Snapmaker, and senior partners of many US - dollar funds got involved personally.

Of course, it is not uncommon for hardware entrepreneurs to be ignored. Compared with the consumer and Internet industries, this track is not very attractive: high cost, high failure rate, and low return. This has led to a long - standing "mismatch" in the hardware investment market: investors "don't understand" in the early stage and "can't get in" after the product becomes popular.

Now, with the disappearance of the Internet dividend and the obvious sales achievements of consumer hardware overseas, the market has started to get excited again. A global perspective and technological innovation have become the keywords for this generation of hardware entrepreneurship. Taking Snapmaker as an example, its overseas sales account for more than 90%, and its products cover more than 100 countries and regions. With the further development of AI technology and combined with China's traditional supply - chain advantages, it is foreseeable that more intelligent hardware products and enterprises will emerge.

This article is from the WeChat official account "China Venture Capital", author: Wei Xianghui, published by 36Kr with authorization.