For years, the consumer 3D printing company ELEGOO was fueled by a independent founding team that refused external investment and declined media interviews. But now, the company has announced a massive Series B+ funding round, raising over 500 million yuan (approx. $70M USD). It was led by Meituan’s DragonBall Capital, with co-investment from Shenzhen Capital Group (SCGC), Hillhouse Investment, Yintai Group, and Shenzhen HTI Group, among others.
The raise signals a strategic overhaul, and it comes just six months after a Series B round of similar scale in November 2025, which notably included participation from the drone giant DJI. Together, these rounds represent a push to close the gap between ELEGOO and current market leaders like Bambu Lab.
From Independence to Reformation
This aggressive fundraising marks a significant shift in ELEGOO’s financial philosophy. For years, the three co-founders refused outside investment and used their own resources for R&D. However, the limits of that isolation eventually became evident. In 2023, when a product developed by the team kept getting delayed, the team realized their efforts couldn’t keep pace with the market. Chen Bo, one of ELEGOO’s founders, explain in an interview with 36Kr: “Every resource had been assigned to developing that product, and yet the result we delivered still could not keep up with products our competitors had already launched.”
The delay ultimately came down to their ability to engineer for mass production. So, the team turned to external support and approached DJI. They went to DJI not just for capital, but for a blueprint. In the interview with 36Kr, Chen shared “Our position is very clear: reform ourselves. If the products we build in 2024 and 2025 still cannot meet the market’s expectations…then that means our management capability has hit its ceiling.”
Within three months, ELEGOO and DJI had a financing deal, but also a partnership. Chen referred to DJI as a “teacher.” Thus, ELEGOO’s leaders are also adopting DJI’s product development methodology and DJI’s firmware development methodology for integrating software with hardware. He emphasized that they aren’t copying the framework, rather working to understand the systems behind it.
Co-founder Chen Bo (Photo Credit: PanDaily)
The 2026 Goal: Staying at the Table
While the technical reform is happening in the lab, the financial targets remain ambitious. ELEGOO is eyeing a 2026 revenue goal of RMB 3.5–4.0 billion ($512M–$585M USD). Even with those numbers, the mountain is steep. Chen acknowledges a roughly fivefold revenue gap between ELEGOO and Bambu Lab. However, the company isn’t focused on a quick takeover. “It is not about surpassing the leader in the next two or three years” Chen said. “Our focus is on whether we can stay at the table until the settlement phase.”
To survive that “settlement phase,” ELEGOO is betting on making 3D printers as reliable as everyday appliances. The company wants to lower the usability barrier and solve the stability issues that still affect consumer machines, proving that you don’t have to be the current market leader to be the company that finally makes 3D printing accessible to everyone. To learn more, read the interview from 36Kr here.
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*Cover Photo Credits: ELEGOO