Another entrepreneurial success story emerges from China's tech landscape.

Have you ever seen social media videos showcasing small machines that can "print" customized anime figurines, keychains, or complex mechanical parts within minutes? Behind these operations lies the widespread adoption of consumer-grade 3D printing technology. In this market, Shenzhen Creality 3D Technology Co., Ltd. (Creality) has become virtually the default choice.

From entry-level enthusiasts to university research laboratories, from trendy toy designers to home DIY hobbyists, Creality's equipment is quietly becoming an essential tool for creators worldwide. According to CIC data, Creality holds a 27.9% market share based on cumulative shipments of consumer-grade 3D printers, ranking second globally in 2024.

Now, this company is taking a crucial step forward. Recently, Creality submitted its IPO prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Behind the company stands a consortium of institutional investors including Tencent Holdings Limited, Shenzhen Capital Group, and others, having completed a 500 million yuan Series A funding round in 2021. Interestingly, Creality previously planned to list on China's A-share market but has now chosen to debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange, drawing attention to its strategic choices.

**Four Post-85 Entrepreneurs Join Forces: Another Success Story?**

Creality was established in 2014 by four entrepreneurs born after 1985: Chen Chun, Tang Jingke, Ao Danjun, and Liu Huilin. They met at a 3D printing exhibition and decided to start their business together with 1 million yuan in startup capital. They quickly opened the market with a 3D printer priced at $500.

According to the prospectus, the four founders hold similar stakes and positions. Chen Chun serves as co-founder, executive director, chairman, and general manager, holding 21.31% of shares. Tang Jingke is co-founder, executive director, vice chairman, and deputy general manager, also holding 21.31%. Ao Danjun and Liu Huilin are both co-founders, executive directors, and vice chairmen, holding 19.67% each. The four collectively own 81.98% of shares and have signed a unanimous action agreement.

Such entrepreneurial partnerships are rare in capital markets. The last notable example was LED lighting leader PAK Corporation (300625.SZ), where four founders also came together through shared business passion. However, PAK's founders dissolved their unanimous action agreement in 2020, leading to governance conflicts and a "2 vs 2" standoff that has persisted into 2025.

Industry expert Lin Xianping from Zhejiang University City College notes that such equal partnership structures, while admirable, can create governance risks if not properly managed, potentially leading to decision-making deadlocks that affect strategic execution efficiency.

**$2.2 Billion Revenue Through 3D Printing, But Lower Margins Than Peers**

Creality's main business encompasses the complete 3D creative production process from idea generation to printing/engraving and final product circulation. Products include consumer-grade 3D printers, printing materials, and recently expanded to include 3D scanners, laser engravers, and accessories.

CIC statistics show that Creality achieved a 27.9% global market share in cumulative consumer-grade 3D printer shipments from 2020-2024. Additionally, Creality is the only company globally providing integrated consumer-grade solutions for 3D printing, scanning, and laser engraving.

According to the prospectus, Creality has maintained rapid growth in recent years. Revenue reached 1.346 billion yuan, 1.883 billion yuan, and 2.288 billion yuan from 2022 to 2024 respectively, representing a compound annual growth rate of approximately 30.4%. First quarter 2025 revenue was 708 million yuan, up 28.7% year-over-year.

This revenue growth has been supported by channel expansion. As of Q1 2025, online sales accounted for 47.9% of total sales through independent websites and platforms including Amazon, eBay, Tmall, and JD.com. Offline presence covers approximately 140 countries and regions through 2,163 authorized distributors.

Notably, Creality operated only 6 overseas online stores at the end of 2022, which expanded to 58 by Q1 2025, demonstrating accelerated overseas expansion. The company also builds ecosystem synergies around its core 3D printing business, including the "Creality Cloud" user community for creative exchange and the "Nexbie" e-commerce platform for 3D printing product transactions.

However, Creality faces a "revenue growth without profit growth" situation. Net profit has not increased proportionally with revenue: 104 million yuan in 2022, 129 million yuan in 2023, and only 89 million yuan in 2024. Net profit margin declined from 6.8% in 2023 to 3.9% in 2024, primarily due to product pricing adjustments, increased costs, and reduced other income.

Wind data comparison shows Creality's gross margins of 28.8%, 31.8%, and 30.9% from 2022-2024, while peer listed companies averaged over 50% gross margins. Even the lowest-margin peer (Bright Laser Technologies) exceeded 37%. Net margins also declined from 7.7% to 3.9%, well below the peer average of 13.5%.

This low margin structure relates to Creality's low-price strategy. The company priced its flagship CR-10 model at just $500, below the then-prevailing $1,000+ market pricing, helping rapidly capture overseas markets. Financial media Benzinga reported that Creality's overseas 3D printer prices range from $199 to $1,499 (professional series starting around $3,400), significantly lower than Western competitors.

Consumer feedback on Reddit indicates: "Customer service and out-of-box experience are the only two important pillars left in 3D printing. While Creality's product prices have dropped significantly over recent years, they still can't be plug-and-play. They'll sell you the product directly, but that's it - when encountering after-sales issues, you often have to solve them yourself through forums."

Contrasting with low pricing is insufficient R&D investment. According to the prospectus, Creality's R&D spending as a percentage of revenue was only 6.5%, 5.1%, and 6.5% from 2022-2024, below the peer average of 19.6%. Among 565 R&D personnel, only 10.6% hold master's degrees or above. The prospectus acknowledges that current R&D investment and talent reserves may be insufficient to support long-term core technology innovation.

The company also warns of product quality control risks in its prospectus: "We may be unable to conduct comprehensive quality control over our products and services. Due to the complex structure of 3D printing products, defects that are difficult to discover and fix in time may exist in first-release or upgraded products, and such defects may only be discovered after customer testing, commercialization, and deployment, potentially causing customer dissatisfaction or even loss, materially adversely affecting our business."

Indeed, revenue from Creality's largest customer has experienced a cliff-like decline. Customer A contributed 192 million yuan (14.3% of total revenue) in 2022, but this plummeted to 62 million yuan in 2023, a drop of over 67%. The newly ranked fifth-largest customer G in 2024 contributed less than 38 million yuan, also significantly below the 53 million yuan contributed by the fifth-largest customer D in 2022.

**Tencent and Shenzhen Capital Investment: 4 Billion Yuan Valuation**

Behind customer losses, the consumer-grade 3D printing sector where Creality operates is seeing increasingly strong competitors emerge.

The prospectus reveals that Creality's 2024 annual shipments fell short of 730,000 units, already surpassed by Chinese company Toptu with 1.2 million units, dropping Creality to second place. Following closely are domestic peers like Intelligent School Technology and Zongwei Cubic, with 2024 shipments of approximately 550,000 and 500,000 units respectively, approaching Creality's levels.

In 3D scanner and laser engraver segments, numerous strong competitors have also emerged. In 2024, Creality ranked first globally in consumer-grade 3D scanner sales (37.7% market share), but the second and third-place competitors combined for nearly 46% market share. In laser engravers, Creality's global market share is only 5.7%, far below industry leaders like Maker Factory and Atom Innovation. Across all of Creality's product lines, it faces challenges from numerous "newcomers."

However, in the IPO race, Creality leads the industry.

During its expansion, the company completed Series A funding in July 2021, raising 508 million yuan from investors including Qianhai FOF, Shenzhen Capital Group, and Tencent Holdings Limited, achieving a post-money valuation of 4 billion yuan. This was Creality's only external funding round before the IPO.

If Creality successfully lists on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it will become the world's first publicly traded company in the consumer-grade 3D printing sector. The prospectus states that IPO proceeds will primarily fund enhanced technology R&D, overseas user operations, global brand and channel promotion, strategic investments and acquisitions, and working capital supplementation.

Notably, Creality previously signed an A-share listing guidance agreement in December 2023 but terminated the guidance in August this year, pivoting to seek Hong Kong listing.

Lu Bingheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering at Xi'an Jiaotong University, believes: "While China's 3D printing technology research has reached world-leading levels, there remains significant development space in process equipment and engineering applications. 3D printing technology needs a development roadmap planning basic research, industrialization, and engineering application routes to achieve true industrialization."

In downstream applications, 3D printing is gradually penetrating education, healthcare, home decoration, and other scenarios, creating new demand growth points for hardware manufacturers. The rise of cross-border e-commerce channels also provides convenient pathways for companies to expand overseas markets, while policy support for 3D printing technology continues strengthening.

Overall, the consumer-grade 3D printing sector has broad future development prospects, but industry concentration improvement, core technology breakthroughs, and global expansion represent three key factors that will determine whether participants like Creality can achieve ultimate victory.