"Invisible Champion" in northern Jiangsu, achieving "domestic uniqueness" in 3 years, and aggressively raising billions of yuan in the first round of financing!

Some people describe 3D printing as "the ideas of the last century, the technology of the last century, and the market of this century.".

The 3D printing industry, which once experienced a development boom through a wide range of application channels, has struggled to scale up due to issues such as material types, production costs, and insufficient market awareness.

In Yancheng, Jiangsu, there is a dark horse enterprise that has carried out extensive software algorithm optimization, process improvement, and overall machine design innovation to address the efficiency and cost challenges of metal 3D printing.

These technological innovations have enabled devices to be applied in multiple fields such as 3C consumer electronics, shoe molds, and dental dentures, and have also brought new vitality to the century old 3D printing technology.

According to the official website of Qichacha, recently, Micron (Jiangsu) 3D Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Micron 3D") completed its first round of nearly 100 million yuan strategic financing, led by industry partners Yueda Automobile Industry Fund and Huagong Technology (000988), with joint participation from Tianchong Capital and Xuzhou Airport Development Zone.

Since its establishment in September 2021, the company has focused on the production, manufacturing, and related services of metal SLM equipment, committed to underlying technological innovation, self-developed slicing and control software, and achieved many disruptive designs and innovations.

This round of financing will be used for large-scale production and manufacturing of new generation SLM metal 3D printing equipment and promotion, accelerating the penetration of titanium alloy 3C consumer electronics, shoe molds and other fields.

As of now, Micron 3D has shipped over 500 devices, among which the new metal SLM equipment market in 2023 is at the forefront, and the dental SLM equipment market has the highest new market share.

In just three years, it has become the only 3D printing enterprise in China that integrates software algorithms, control, and material technology, providing multi-threaded solutions. How did it achieve this? Let's start with its founder, Dr. Li Shuai.

Dr. Hai Gui+"Huake Zhang Xiaolong"

Display a 3D printing card

Some people describe 3D printing as "the ideas of the last century, the technology of the last century, and the market of this century.". Due to 3D printing, the process from virtual to reality has gone through hundreds of years.

In 2021, Micron 3D settled in Yandu District, Yancheng City as a "specialized, refined, unique, and new" industrial project. Its founders are the first batch of 3D printing doctoral students in China, Li Shuai and Chen Zhichao, who have been deeply involved in the industry for many years.

According to the data, Dr. Li Shuai studied under Professor Shi Yusheng from the Additive Manufacturing Research Group of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (a leading figure in 3D printing in China), and obtained research in additive manufacturing equipment, technology, and application development from the leading research institution in the world, Nanyang University of Technology.

Dr. Chen Zhichao, co-founder, has independently written over 400000 lines of software code, created large-scale splicing interface enhancement algorithms, and parallel multithreading algorithms. He is known as the "Huake Zhang Xiaolong" in the field of 3D printing software.

Li Shuai still recalls the process of entrepreneurship with emotion. He was exposed to 3D printing technology during his studies, especially with a deep interest in metal 3D printing.

Beyond ideals, it is reality. When 3D printing enters the market, it must face the pressure of technological innovation and the impact of market demand, and Micron 3D is no exception.

On the path of technology entrepreneurship, technology is particularly core. Micron 3D has been focusing on its basic technology since the beginning of entrepreneurship, committed to becoming the only domestic company that independently designs all structural components, software, and control systems.

Ranked first in the newly added market share of dental SLM equipment in 2023

In December 2023, according to the latest data released by additive manufacturing research company AMR, it is expected that the size of the 3D printing industry will rapidly expand from $18.8 billion in 2023 to $119 billion by 2032.

The SLM (METAL PBF) technology route has almost exponential growth in terms of growth rate and proportion, and is the sum of other routes.

3D printing, also known as metal additive manufacturing or laminated manufacturing, has gone through three stages of industrialization in the past decade.

Since 2008, when US President Obama provided manufacturing to the United States and Germany provided Industry 4.0, China has begun an exploration phase of industrialization, mainly involving research equipment purchased by domestic universities and research institutes; The second stage mainly focuses on the mass production of metal 3D printing in high value-added products, especially in military, aerospace, and other high value-added and difficult to manufacture products; Since 2023, with Honor announcing the use of 3D printed titanium alloy material for the hinge cover of the folding screen Magic V2, metal 3D printing has entered a new stage of large-scale industrial application.

Since its establishment, Micron 3D has regarded the integration of software and technology as the core of equipment development, continuously iterating software and optimizing processes to achieve localization of components while improving printing efficiency. The equipment has been applied in multiple fields such as dentistry, shoe molds, and consumer electronics.

It is understood that the M140C dental specialized equipment launched by the company in May 2023 can achieve a daily printing volume of over 1000 fixed dentures, changing the denture processing method of existing small and medium-sized denture factories. Since its launch, it has achieved the first domestic market share in the dental 3D equipment industry.

In addition, in response to the high cost and slow design of traditional shoe mold processes, in the second half of 2023, Micron 3D launched equipment such as M300 and M420, which overturned the technical feasibility and cost advantages of traditional processing. For the first time in China, the comprehensive cost of 3D printed shoe molds (considering powder, equipment depreciation, etc.) was lower than the manufacturing cost of traditional shoe molds. Currently, it has been verified and purchased in bulk by shoe mold equipment factories.

In fact, currently Meiguang 3D's software and technology have been running on nearly a thousand devices. Customizing exclusive software and operation interfaces for different application fields and operational requirements, achieving intelligent one click operation, is the only multi-threaded solution in China that integrates software algorithms, control, and material technology.

As a benchmark enterprise in the 3D printing industry, Micron 3D has secured a huge financing of approximately 100 million yuan in its first round since its establishment three years ago!

It is worth noting that there is also an automotive industry fund included in the financing. Xu Pengtian, the head of Yueda Automobile Science and Technology Innovation Fund, said, "Yueda Automobile Group, as an investment platform in the automotive industry, has made comprehensive efforts in the areas of vehicle manufacturing, parts, research and development, and services. It has also been highly concerned about the potential for large-scale manufacturing of core components in additive manufacturing in the automotive field."

The times create heroes, and core technologies promote industrial development. As 3D printing enters a new stage of large-scale industrial application, Micron 3D has also ushered in new development opportunities, and this marathon race of 3D printing has begun.