A 34-year-old young man from Quanzhou sells 3D printers: raising hundreds of millions in financing and breaking a global record

Another company has secured a large - scale financing in the booming 3D printing market.

On December 10th, Snapmaker, a 3D printing brand, announced the completion of hundreds of millions of yuan in Series B financing.

This round was co - led by Hillhouse Ventures and Meituan, with participation from Shunwei Capital, Meituan Longzhu, and Nanshan War and New Investment. Existing shareholders Tongchuang Weiye and Orient Securities Capital continued to increase their investments.

Just in August this year, Snapmaker set a new record. Its U1 3D printer raised 150 million yuan on a global crowdfunding platform, becoming the project with the highest crowdfunding amount in the history of 3D printing. Snapmaker revealed that all crowdfunding orders for the U1 have been shipped.

Chen Xuedong, the founder of Snapmaker, was born in Quanzhou, Fujian in 1989. He loved Lego and engineering technology since childhood. In high school, he won the championship in the International Robot Olympiad and was recommended to Xiamen University. During his university years, he designed and developed several robots. After graduation, he worked at the Xi'an Research Institute of AVIC for two years. In 2016, Chen Xuedong founded Snapmaker in Shenzhen.

In 2025, there have been 75 investments related to 3D printing in the domestic primary market, with 59 companies securing financing. Compared with 55 transactions and 51 companies in 2024, the market has clearly heated up (Data source: CVSource).

Among them, 15 companies completed two or more rounds of financing in 2025. Xietong Gaoke even completed three rounds of financing within a year.

Another leading company, Creality, has submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. If it goes public successfully, it is expected to become the "first stock in consumer - grade 3D printing".

- 01 -

Why has 3D printing suddenly become popular? The core reason is the simultaneous expansion of both the industrial - grade and consumer - grade markets.

Let's start with the consumer side.

In the past, most buyers of consumer - grade 3D printers were makers and niche enthusiasts. Now, the situation is completely different. Families, schools, and entrepreneurs are all purchasing them. Family users have even become the main force. In the first half of 2025, the proportion of family users of consumer - grade 3D printers in China increased from less than 20% three years ago to 45%.

Family users can be roughly divided into two categories. One category is parents, who use 3D printers for parent - child interaction. They print building blocks and dinosaur skeletons to cultivate their children's hands - on abilities. The other category is technology enthusiasts, who regard 3D printers as "home factories" for DIY and customized gifts.

Schools and small business owners have also become important buyers. Approximately 80% of primary and secondary schools across the country plan to introduce 3D printing for STEAM education in the next two to three years. "3D printing farms" have emerged in places like Yiwu and Shenzhen. Small business owners use them for small - batch production to serve night markets and trendy toy exhibitions. Since there is no need for mold - making, the cost of a single toy can be reduced to about 2 yuan.

The overseas market is even larger, far exceeding the domestic market. In the first quarter of 2025, the global shipment volume of entry - level 3D printers (priced below $2,500) exceeded 1 million units. Among them, 95% were from Chinese suppliers. Brands such as Creality, Tiertime, Anycubic, and SmartParts performed particularly prominently.

Overseas consumers' motives are also more "practical". 42% of purchases are for "repairing things". Printing household appliance parts, furniture connectors, and small automobile parts - these are all essential needs.

The expansion of the consumer - grade 3D printing market is due to a group of Shenzhen entrepreneurs solving long - standing problems in the industry: affordability and ease of use.

In 2020, Tao Ye, the founder of Tiertime, entered the 3D printing industry. He previously worked on products at DJI and was very familiar with the supply chain and manufacturing costs. This time, he applied the same approach to 3D printers: making key components in - house and reducing costs wherever possible.

The result was straightforward - finer printing at a lower price.

Here, let's briefly introduce the concept of "precision": the higher the precision, the closer the printed object is to the original design, and the clearer the details.

In 2020, most consumer - grade 3D printers could only achieve a minimum printing precision of 0.05 mm. By 2023, Tiertime launched its entry - level model A1, which reduced this figure to 0.01 mm. It was sold at only $199, approximately half the price of similar products.

Before the A1, only high - end models from leading brands like Tiertime and Snapmaker could achieve a precision of 0.02 mm.

How fine is 0.01 mm? It can directly print the 0.2 - mm - thick hair of an anime figurine or the 0.3 - mm mechanical gear groove. The lines are clear, without burrs, and can be used directly without much post - processing.

More importantly, there is the success rate. Tiertime achieved a printing yield of 96%, meaning that ordinary users can succeed in more than nine out of ten attempts when following the instructions. This has transformed 3D printing from a "geek toy" into a tool that ordinary people can afford and use smoothly.

In 3D printing, there is a well - recognized problem: multi - color or multi - material printing is too expensive.

If a printer is to use different colors and materials simultaneously, either the structure becomes more complex or there is severe material waste, which drives up the cost. This has always been a "bottleneck" in the popularization of 3D printing.

The turning point occurred in the past two years.

In 2024, Tiertime first reduced the precision of multi - material printing to 0.01 mm, which is twice the industry average. In 2025, Snapmaker further broke through the barrier. Its consumer - grade flagship model U1 is equipped with four independent print heads and an automatic tool - changing system. Multi - color printing is faster and more accurate, and material waste is reduced by 80%.

More crucially, there is the price. The early - bird crowdfunding price of the U1 was $749. After domestic subsidies, the initial launch price dropped to 4,504 yuan.

It's almost the price of a mid - range mobile phone.

For the first time, multi - color 3D printing is no longer exclusive to "professional players".

In the past, the first hurdle in 3D printing was not the machine but modeling. Many people got stuck at this step and couldn't even start.

Now, the situation is different. With the help of AI, users can directly generate printable models by inputting a text description.

Even those who can't draw or don't understand software can use 3D printing.

This popularization is giving rise to a new creator ecosystem. Some people directly sell printed products, such as the "3D printing farms" emerging everywhere. Others may not print themselves but focus on design, model - making, and solution - providing.

Leading manufacturers are also promoting this direction. Creality launched the "Creality Cloud" app as early as 2020, which features a 3D printing model community. By 2025, the global registered users of this platform had exceeded 4 million.

Even if you don't own a Creality printer, you can find models, learn techniques, and take on orders in the community. 3D printing is evolving from a single machine into a network centered around creativity and manufacturing.

- 02 -

Now, let's look at the industrial market.

The most concentrated application areas are aerospace, medical implants, automobile parts, and consumer product customization, where large - scale implementation has been achieved.

Data from exhibition shows also confirms this trend. At the 2025 TCT Asia Exhibition (Asia 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Exhibition), industrial - grade visitors with a procurement budget of over 5 million yuan accounted for 13.24%. In 2024, this proportion was only 8.5%.

The breakthrough in industrial - grade 3D printing is not due to the sudden popularity of a single device but rather the fact that it has started to be "truly usable" in one real - world scenario after another.

In 2019, a US research team used 3D printing to make a spinal cord scaffold, which helped mice regain their motor abilities. In the same year, an Israeli team printed the world's first complete heart with cells and blood vessels.

These two events made capital seriously realize for the first time that 3D printing might change the medical field.

In 2020, China sent 3D printing into space. A 3D printing experiment of continuous fiber - reinforced composite materials was completed in a weightless environment. This means that 3D printing is no longer restricted by Earth's conditions and has a broader application scope.

By 2022, AVIC clearly stated that 3D printing technology had achieved large - scale and engineering - level application in aircraft manufacturing. This marked a key change - 3D printing began to move from a "small - batch proof - of - concept tool" to real industrial production.

Industrial - grade players compete not based on a single parameter but on the maturity of technology, cost control, and the closeness to specific scenarios. Only when all three conditions are met can 3D printing enter the real production line.

Take Xietong Gaoke as an example. This company focuses on continuous fiber and ceramic 3D printing. It has broken the long - term foreign monopoly in terms of materials and equipment.

More importantly, it doesn't just "sell equipment". Xietong Gaoke has deeply integrated with aerospace, military, and medical customers and directly participates in actual projects. For example, in the aerospace field, it custom - prints complex and lightweight components for customers - such as special - shaped brackets and combustion chambers, which are difficult to produce using traditional processes but are the forte of 3D printing.

Now, look at SIRUI Additive Manufacturing. It takes a different approach. Instead of starting with equipment, it targets a long - neglected problem: metal waste.

Through its "metal cold - shaping powder - making technology", SIRUI Additive Manufacturing re - processes metal waste from the aerospace and medical fields into usable metal powder. Currently, it is the only company in the industry that has achieved large - scale mass production of low - cost recycled titanium powder.

On this basis, it has also extended its technology to various metals such as aluminum, tantalum, niobium, and silver, forming a complete "full - metal spectrum" powder - making capability.

This technology, on the one hand, meets the demand for high - value metal materials in high - end manufacturing; on the other hand, it significantly reduces the cost for enterprises to handle metal waste.

- 03 -

3D printing has become popular very quickly, but there is a problem that is being repeatedly mentioned: a shortage of talent.

This can be seen from the recruitment side. After submitting its prospectus, Creality has been recruiting a large number of employees for production expansion and R & D.

However, some key technical positions have remained unfilled for months. For example, algorithm engineers in the field of slicing engines and senior motor drive engineers. These positions have been short - staffed for four consecutive months.

To attract talent, the company offers a salary for slicing algorithm engineers that is approximately 30% higher than the industry average for similar positions, yet it is still difficult to recruit.

If leading companies are facing such difficulties, one can imagine the situation across the entire industry. Financing can be secured, and orders can be negotiated, but the real bottleneck for development is the lack of talent.

The problem is not a shortage of people but rather the difficulty in finding the right people. For the real - world implementation of 3D printing, a combination of technology and specific scenarios is required.

In the medical field, one not only needs to understand printing processes but also the clinical requirements of dental prosthetics and orthopedic implants. In the aerospace field, one must be familiar with metal printing and meet the high - temperature resistance and high - strength requirements of engine components.

Such interdisciplinary talent is inherently scarce. And with the rapid growth of 3D printing, the pace of talent cultivation clearly lags behind.

Snapmaker, which has just completed its Series B financing, is also allocating a large amount of funds to "talent - hunting". In addition to continuing to tackle multi - color printing and high - speed forming technologies, it also plans to expand its global talent layout, focusing on recruiting top - notch talent in hardware R & D, AI software, and content ecosystems.

This problem is even acutely felt by industry veterans. Tao Ye, the founder of Tiertime, recently mentioned on his WeChat Moments that when DJI invested in the 3D printing company SmartParts, a "special clause regarding Tiertime" was included in the agreement. His comment was straightforward: "The flow of talent has touched a nerve with my former boss."

If we had to make a judgment about the 3D printing industry - in 2026, the most expensive thing will not be equipment or materials but talent.

This article does not constitute any investment advice.

This article is from the WeChat official account “Pencil News” (ID: pencilnews), written by Yan Mengchen, and is published by 36Kr with permission.