TAL invested in another hard technology company.

TAL has made another move.

Recently, consumer-grade 3D printing enterprise Snapmaker announced the completion of a new round of financing of 1 billion yuan, led by Cathay Capital, followed by TAL's strategic investment, with existing shareholders such as Meituan Strategic Investment, Meituan Longzhu, Hillhouse Ventures, and Shunwei Capital continuing to make oversubscribed additional investments. This is also one of the largest financing deals in the consumer hardware sector in recent years.

One is a leading enterprise in the education industry, and the other is a consumer-grade 3D printing company. This financing has quickly drawn widespread attention. When TAL once again sets its sights on hard technology, who exactly is this company? And what new signals worthy of the education industry's attention have been released?

01

Consumer-grade 3D printing is ushering in a new round of reshuffling

This financing for Snapmaker takes place at a stage where the product roadmap of the consumer-grade 3D printing industry is accelerating its adjustment.

For a long time in the past, the core of competition among consumer-grade 3D printing enterprises lay in how many functions their devices could integrate. Founded in 2016, Snapmaker is one of the representative enterprises in this field. The first product launched under its brand Snapmaker integrated three functions: 3D printing, laser engraving, and CNC carving into a single desktop device, aiming to enable users to complete different types of creation on the same machine.

This product positioning quickly gained market recognition. In 2017, the first-generation Snapmaker product landed on Kickstarter, raising 2.27 million US dollars in crowdfunding; in 2019, the second-generation product returned to Kickstarter, raising 7.85 million US dollars, once again refreshing the crowdfunding record for tech products at that time. Relying on the differentiated "three-in-one" positioning, Snapmaker gradually expanded into overseas markets and became a representative brand in the consumer-grade digital manufacturing sector.

The real change came in 2022. With Bambu Lab launching products featuring high-speed printing, multi-color printing, and automatic calibration, the consumer-grade 3D printing industry entered a new competitive phase. Compared to how many functions a single device can integrate, printing speed, print success rate, and operational experience have become the product capabilities that users pay more attention to.

For Snapmaker, this meant that its original product roadmap also needed to be readjusted. Continuing to adhere to the "three-in-one" concept required balancing three different functions: 3D printing, laser engraving, and CNC carving, which inevitably led to compromises between different modules. Subsequently, the company refocused its R&D resources on 3D printing and launched its flagship product, the U1.

Different from the traditional solution of repeatedly switching filaments with a single nozzle, the U1 adopts four independent tool heads paired with the SnapSwap™ rapid tool head changing system, with separate nozzles corresponding to different colors and materials. According to data released by the company, compared with traditional solutions, printing efficiency has increased by about 5 times, and material waste has been reduced by about 80%.

After the product adjustment, the market quickly gave feedback. In 2025, the U1 landed on Kickstarter, raising more than 20.61 million US dollars in crowdfunding and gaining support from over 20,000 users, refreshing the global consumer-grade 3D printing crowdfunding record. Over the past six months, the company has completed large-scale deliveries, with a total of over 100,000 devices delivered so far, the vast majority of which have been sold to overseas household users.

From three-in-one desktop devices to refocusing on 3D printing, Snapmaker did not continue iterating along the already proven successful product path, but instead chose to redefine its product direction. This was also the company's most important adjustment before completing the 1 billion yuan financing this time.

02

What does the capital value behind the 1 billion yuan financing?

In the new round of financing announced by Snapmaker, what is more noteworthy than the financing amount is the list of investors.

This round of financing is led by Cathay Capital, followed by TAL's strategic investment, with existing shareholders such as Meituan Strategic Investment, Meituan Longzhu, Hillhouse Ventures, and Shunwei Capital continuing to make oversubscribed additional investments, while Gao Hu Capital serves as the exclusive financial advisor. This is also one of the largest financing deals in the consumer hardware sector in recent years.

From the perspective of investment structure, this round of financing presents two characteristics. On the one hand, Cathay Capital entered as a new investor; on the other hand, existing investors such as Meituan Strategic Investment, Meituan Longzhu, Hillhouse Ventures, and Shunwei Capital continued to increase their stakes, with no old shareholders exiting. Against the backdrop of the overall rationalization of consumer hardware investment, the joint participation of new and old shareholders in the same round of financing has also become one of the important reasons why this financing has attracted attention.

Another noteworthy change is that TAL appeared on the list of investors. For a long time, TAL has been more well-known for its education business, learning services, learning tablets, and AI education products. This time, its participation in the financing of a consumer-grade 3D printing enterprise as a strategic investor has also established a new connection between this hard technology-focused financing and the education industry.

In fact, TAL's attention to 3D printing did not start with this investment. During the Q3 2026 fiscal quarter earnings call held in January this year, when introducing its online literacy courses, TAL mentioned that the company continues to enhance learning experiences through technology-driven curriculum innovation. In some courses, Xueersi has introduced technology-driven immersive classroom solutions, and enhanced student engagement through gamified learning mechanisms.

At the same time, the company also revealed that new 3D printing courses have been included in its online literacy courses, hoping to stimulate students' interest in emerging technologies through more technology-themed content and cultivate the comprehensive abilities needed for the future.

03

What other hard technology projects has TAL invested in this year?

Snapmaker is not the only hard technology investment publicly disclosed by TAL this year.

In January this year, BrainCo, a brain-computer interface enterprise, completed a Series C financing of about 2 billion yuan, with TAL's strategic investment participating. Public information shows that BrainCo's current products cover multiple directions such as intelligent bionic hands and brain-computer interface education and training equipment, with education and medical rehabilitation as its key application scenarios.

In the first half of the year, as Zhipu AI was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, TAL's previous investment in Zhipu AI once again attracted market attention. Public information shows that TAL first invested in Zhipu AI in 2023, and continued to participate in its financing through affiliated entities in 2024. After Zhipu AI's listing, this years-long investment re-entered the public view.

In July, consumer-grade 3D printing enterprise Snapmaker announced the completion of a new round of financing of 1 billion yuan, with TAL's strategic investment participating. This round of financing will be mainly used for R&D of consumer-grade 3D printing products, global market expansion, and supply chain construction.

According to publicly disclosed information, since the beginning of this year, the projects that TAL has participated in investing in have covered multiple directions such as AI foundational models, brain-computer interfaces, and consumer-grade 3D printing. These several public capital moves took place at different times and in different tracks, but all revolve around hard technology fields such as artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, and digital manufacturing.

Snapmaker's completion of 1 billion yuan in financing marks a new milestone in the development of the consumer-grade 3D printing industry; and TAL's appearance on the investor list gives this financing another layer of significance related to the education industry.

For TAL, this investment is not simply adding one more portfolio company, but its investment territory has once again extended into the hard technology field. From AI to learning hardware, and then to consumer-grade 3D printing, the focus of education enterprises is continuously expanding to underlying technologies. As more and more new technologies complete their industrialization and consumerization processes, how they can further integrate into educational products, curriculum systems, and learning scenarios will also become a new change worthy of continuous attention in the next stage.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Duojing" (ID: DJEDUINNO), written by Siluo, and authorized for release by 36Kr.