Increasing revenue without increasing profit, cash flow under pressure, leading 3D printing company pushes again into Hong Kong stocks

Ask AI · How does high marketing expenditure at Chuangxiang 3D Impact its profitability?

Text by Xu Feng

Recently, Chuangxiang 3D updated its prospectus and once again targeted an IPO on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. While striving to become the “Number One Consumer-Grade 3D Printing Stock,” the company’s challenges of stagnant revenue growth, cash flow pressures, and high expenses have also come into the market’s spotlight.

【Emerging Issues of Revenue Growth Without Profit Increase】

As a leading player in the consumer-grade 3D printing industry, Chuangxiang 3D has faced ongoing tests of revenue growth without corresponding profit gains in recent years.

Founded in 2014, Chuangxiang 3D initially rose rapidly overseas with a low-price strategy, and in just over a decade, it has grown into a global leader in consumer-grade 3D printing, currently ranking first worldwide in consumer 3D scanners and second in 3D printers.

However, the path to its IPO has not been smooth.

In early 2024, Chuangxiang 3D completed IPO filing registration with the Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Bureau and officially initiated the A-share listing process, but the plan was shelved within just over a year.

In August 2025, it shifted to pursue a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, but after half a year, the prospectus expired and became invalid. It refiled in March 2026, and if successful, it will become the “First Consumer-Grade 3D Printing Stock.”

Currently, most listed companies in the 3D printing industry focus on industrial-grade products, including Polymaker, Huashu Gaoke, and Xianlin 3D, while no major consumer-grade enterprise has yet gone public.

It’s worth noting that before its IPO attempt, Chuangxiang 3D had raised funds through a round of financing in 2021, attracting well-known institutions such as Tencent, Shenzhen Venture Capital, and Qianhai FOF, with a post-investment valuation of 4 billion yuan.

By comparison, the valuations of Polymaker and Huashu Gaoke are both over 1.88B yuan, with Huashu Gaoke exceeding 30 billion yuan. Relative to these, Chuangxiang 3D’s valuation still has considerable room for imagination.

From a growth perspective, the recent performance of revenue increase without profit growth reveals underlying concerns.

From 2023 to 2025, Chuangxiang 3D’s main business revenue grew from 3.13B yuan to 1.52B yuan, a 66.06% increase, but profits remained under pressure, with net profits of 129 million, 88.66 million, and a loss of 182 million yuan in 2023, 2024, and 2025 respectively. In 2025, it directly fell into loss.

In response, Chuangxiang 3D explained that this was mainly due to issuing shares to investors and paying dividends. However, after deducting these, the adjusted net profit still performed poorly, at 130 million, 97 million, and 92 million yuan, respectively, showing a decline year over year.

The decline in profitability is closely linked to rising costs and expenses eroding margins.

【Behind the Profit Slump】

In recent years, the company’s expense expenditures have increasingly squeezed profits, with marketing expenses being the largest component, rising from 301 million yuan in 2023 to 570 million yuan in 2025, increasing the proportion of revenue from 16% to 18.2%.

Meanwhile, in the first three quarters of 2025, Polymaker’s marketing expense ratio was 7.75%, and Huashu Gaoke’s was 11.12%, both significantly lower than Chuangxiang 3D.

A reduction in government subsidies also impacted profitability. During the reporting period, government grants received decreased from 34.66 million yuan to 16.29 million yuan, with the proportion of adjusted net profit dropping from 26.92% to 17.39%.

The surge in marketing expenses at Chuangxiang 3D is largely due to rapid channel expansion. Currently, the company mainly relies on offline distributors and online self-operated e-commerce platforms. While offline channels remain the main force, their revenue share is declining year by year, with online channels becoming the focus of expansion, especially in overseas markets, such as launching the overseas e-commerce platform Nexbie and restructuring distribution models.

From 2023 to 2025, online channel revenue grew from 671 million yuan to 1.21B yuan, doubling in scale, with revenue share rising from 35.7% to 48.5%. Offline revenue increased from 1.61B yuan to 870.7k yuan, but its growth rate lagged behind online.

For the consumer-grade 3D printing industry, pushing online sales is a major future trend, not only to boost sales revenue but also to supplement the brand ecosystem of manufacturers.

For example, industry leader Zhutu Technology has rapidly risen since 2020 by building a closed-loop model around the MakerWorld community, combining “device consumables + community,” with “one-click printing” and highly integrated hardware-software ecosystems. Within four years, it has firmly occupied the top position in the industry, with over 50 million registered users and monthly active users reaching millions by 2025.

Chuangxiang 3D is also focused on developing its Chuangxiang Cloud platform, which currently has over 4 million registered users, still far behind MakerWorld.

The high marketing expenditure of Chuangxiang 3D is also closely related to fierce industry competition.

In recent years, the consumer-grade 3D printing track has maintained high prosperity. According to data from Zhuoshi Consulting, the market size exceeded $4 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 28% from 2020 to 2024. It is expected to reach $16.9 billion by 2029, with a projected CAGR of 33%.

Despite the bright prospects, competition is intensifying. Zhuoshi Consulting’s research shows that in 2024, the global consumer-grade 3D printing market was highly concentrated, with the top four players—including Zhutu Technology and Chuangxiang 3D—accounting for over 60% of GMV (gross merchandise volume).

Among them, Zhutu’s market share reached 35.5%, far surpassing second-place Chuangxiang 3D’s 11.2%. Once, Chuangxiang 3D was the leader in consumer-grade 3D printers, but it was quickly overtaken by the emerging Zhutu.

Besides Zhutu, Chuangxiang 3D faces many strong competitors. In recent years, several dark horses have emerged, such as Zhutu and Smart派 (SmartPai). Zhutu’s core founding team comes from DJI, which also invested in Smart派 to enter this sector.

In addition to these top companies, Chuangxiang 3D also faces competition from emerging brands like Kuaizao Technology and Atomic Reshape, as well as cross-industry entrants like Anker Innovation and Chaoqu Technology, a rising star in home appliances.

On the product front, in the increasingly competitive mid-to-high-end market, Chuangxiang 3D is facing fierce competition from Zhutu’s P1 and X1 series. Zhutu has gained recognition in high-speed printing through stability and intelligence, leveraging its first-mover advantage to establish a foothold in the mid-to-high-end market.

For a long time, high cost-performance has been a key brand tag for Chuangxiang 3D. The Ender-3 series is known as the “thousand-yuan cost-performance king,” while the K2 and SPARK series aim to open up the high-end market.

More importantly, although revenue has grown rapidly during the reporting period, sales volume has declined—from 870.7k units in 2023 to 742.4k units in 2025. This is mainly because the company is focusing more on high-end products, with average selling prices rising from 1,600 yuan to 2,500 yuan, which has been an important factor supporting performance growth.

As competition intensifies, if Chuangxiang 3D’s sales volume cannot be significantly boosted, there is a risk of losing market share. In 2024, the third and fourth place market shares were 10.7% and 10%, respectively, close to Chuangxiang 3D’s, indicating its market position is not yet solid.

In response to competition, Chuangxiang 3D is also diversifying its business. Besides core 3D printers, it has expanded into consumables, 3D scanners, laser engravers, and accessories. By 2025, revenue from 3D printers accounted for 57.1%, while consumables and 3D scanners grew rapidly, each exceeding 10%.

In addition, cash flow pressures at Chuangxiang 3D cannot be ignored.

【Urgent IPO and Cash Flow Anxiety】

The funds raised from this IPO are mainly allocated to R&D, expanding overseas user operations, global branding, sales channels, and working capital. Facing increasing R&D costs, overseas expansion, and channel development, cash flow issues are becoming more apparent.

Cash flow pressure is one of the reasons why Chuangxiang 3D is eager to go public. During the reporting period, the company’s current liabilities increased rapidly from 764 million yuan to 742.4k yuan, a 60% rise.

Although Chuangxiang 3D maintained rapid growth, its cash and cash equivalents did not increase accordingly, decreasing from 302 million yuan to 277 million yuan, far below current liabilities.

The tight cash position is reflected in a net cash flow turning negative, with 2025 recording a first-time deficit of 1.22B yuan, mainly due to a surge in inventory and accounts receivable, which grew 44.7% and 50.2% year-over-year to 634 million yuan and 338 million yuan, respectively.

This is largely related to the company’s shift in overseas distribution models. As online overseas business expanded, the transition from domestic distribution to overseas warehouses or direct supply to overseas customers increased capital occupation and inventory turnover costs.

From 2023 to 2025, inventory turnover days increased from 81.4 days to 98.3 days. For the fast-paced consumer 3D printing industry, longer inventory turnover may face price decline risks.

Another high-investment area for Chuangxiang 3D is R&D spending, which is also a key focus of this IPO. Given the rapid technological innovation in the industry, sustained R&D investment is crucial to maintaining product competitiveness.

The prospectus shows that from 2023 to 2025, R&D expenses were 96.27 million, 149 million, and 222 million yuan, with R&D expense ratios of 5.1%, 6.5%, and 7.1%. Although the ratio is increasing year by year, it is not high compared to the entire 3D printing industry.

For example, Polymaker’s R&D ratio in the first three quarters of 2025 was 15.77%, Huashu Gaoke’s was 22.23%, and Sikan Technology, which mainly focuses on 3D scanners, reached 22.45%.

In comparison, considering the competitive landscape, Chuangxiang 3D’s relatively low R&D ratio may pose risks of declining competitiveness and market share.

As a leading player in the consumer-grade 3D printing industry, Chuangxiang 3D’s high market share cannot hide its cash flow and competitive pressures. With other industry leaders yet to go public, rushing to IPO reflects a sense of urgency.

Disclaimer

This article involves content related to listed companies, based on the author’s personal analysis and judgment of publicly disclosed information (including but not limited to interim announcements, periodic reports, and official platforms) provided by the companies. The information or opinions herein do not constitute any investment or other commercial advice. MarketWatch is not responsible for any actions taken based on this article.

——END——