Dialogue Creation Era: Just secured hundreds of millions in funding, the turning point for desktop CNC has arrived

Article: Su Zihua

Founder of Maker Era Zhang Qiuxi stands at the forefront of two of the hottest trends today: smart hardware and maker tools.

GEEK PARK has learned that the desktop-level CNC company “Maker Era (Makera)” has recently completed a Series A funding round worth hundreds of millions of yuan. The round was led jointly by Huaying Capital and Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, with follow-on investments from Yuanhe Puhua, Zhongke Chuangxing, Qingke Venture Capital, and existing major shareholder Qiming Venture Partners.

What Maker Era is doing is compressing a full industrial-grade CNC machine tool into your desk, allowing ordinary people to operate it and cut or carve materials like metal and wood into desired shapes. The price has dropped from hundreds of thousands of yuan to just a few thousand.

Interestingly, Maker Era founder Zhang Qiuxi may be one of the best embodiments of the current maker spirit.

Zhang Qiuxi comes from the IT software industry and is a hardcore DIY enthusiast. His initial motivation was simply because he couldn’t find good tools to repair airplane model wings, so he built a CNC prototype himself. Over time, this hobby turned into a business and grew into a company now highly sought after by investors.

What’s valuable in this story is that they didn’t chase the trend; by the time the trend appeared, they were already in position.

Today, in the global desktop CNC track, Maker Era is considered a high-growth brand that has quickly risen through product innovation. Its first product launched on Kickstarter in 2021 became the number one in CNC crowdfunding history.

Maker Era’s first popular product Carvera｜Image source: Makera

At the same time, it is also one of the most promising companies to bring desktop CNC to the masses.

Zhang Qiuxi told GEEK PARK that their third crowdfunding product, launched on Kickstarter by the end of 2025, has surpassed $10 million in sales, with over 8,000 supporters, more than 80% of whom are first-time CNC users.

MAKERA Z1, a desktop CNC costing around a thousand dollars, once broke the crowdfunding record for consumer CNC｜Image source: Makera

Recently, we revisited with Zhang Qiuxi the entire journey from building his first DIY device to now approaching “unicorn” valuation, along with his insights, entrepreneurial lessons, and worldview.

He believes that desktop CNC has now reached a critical crossing point from 1 to 10, and the industry should have the opportunity to hit an annual shipment volume of one million units. This could be a market comparable to 3D printing. He wants to accelerate this process.

Hardcore maker evolution:

DIY enthusiasts take off in the AI wave

Zhang Qiuxi is a true maker. Unlike most entrepreneurs chasing trends, his direct motivation for making desktop CNC is his own “urgent need.”

“I am originally from Beihang University’s computer science major, have worked in software for a long time, and have many years in the IT industry. But I’ve always been a seasoned DIY enthusiast, loving to tinker with circuit boards, radios, robots since I was young.”

Zhang told GEEK PARK that around 2015, he became obsessed with model airplanes and drones, often needing to repair aircraft, process wood, foam, aluminum parts, etc., which required a handy CNC.

But after browsing the market, he found almost no suitable products. Either they were industrial-grade machines weighing several tons and impossible to bring home, or they were extremely simple DIY kits that couldn’t guarantee precision.

For a seasoned maker, if you can’t buy it, then make it yourself.

He found open-source solutions online, bought aluminum profiles and parts, and assembled a large-format CNC on his workbench. Although rough in appearance, it was functional.

This clumsy prototype helped him cut foam molds for airplane wings and also paved an unexpected entrepreneurial path.

Friends in the model aircraft community saw his device and started asking him to help process parts. By late 2016, he opened a small shop on Taobao, selling this DIY CNC as semi-finished kits for 7,000 to 8,000 RMB, allowing users to assemble it themselves.

“At that time, I was doing it part-time, working during the day, packing and making tutorials at night. Later, I realized I could sell dozens or even hundreds of units a month, earning more than my day job,” Zhang recalled.

In 2017, he officially quit his job and devoted himself fully to running the shop. “Half of the buyers were small business owners, and the other half were makers. They wanted a machine that could process and had good cost performance, just like me.”

During that period, his main role was not R&D but customer service.

“It was really tough. Customers genuinely wanted to produce products for sale, so I had to communicate with them repeatedly, teach them step-by-step, and I made very detailed tutorial videos.”

This “hand-holding” phase lasted until 2018. Zhang began to ponder: could he make a better product?

But the challenge was, making a usable CNC is easy; making a good one is hard! Even in the industrial field, CNC machines face “bottleneck” issues. “High-end precision machine tools in China, including CNC systems, spindles, CAM systems, and other core modules, mostly depend on European, American, or Japanese products,” Zhang said. Even for consumer-grade, one must respect the underlying technology.

So, Zhang started building an R&D team and investing in developing original core technologies. “I lean towards software, and I have some understanding of electronics hardware. But to make a more complete product, we need more professional talent. To make a good CNC, we must master the difficult parts like spindles, CNC systems, and CAM software.”

Maker Era was officially founded in 2019. In 2020, they handcrafted the first batch of prototypes. In late 2021, they launched on Kickstarter, selling 500 units and raising $1.7 million, setting a record in CNC crowdfunding history.

The subsequent story involved product iteration, funding rounds, and factory expansion. Maker Era entered the fast lane, aiming to enable beginners to use “CNC machines” at home.

To make CNC explode, a “maker” methodology is needed

Zhang’s understanding of “making” is not to encourage everyone to become mechanical engineers.

He believes that the success of consumer-grade 3D printers is because they encapsulate complex motion control into firmware, so users only need to focus on the model.

Similarly, in methodology, Maker Era is exploring along the mature path of 3D printing, building a closed loop of “hardware + software + content ecosystem.”

First, it involves “consumer-grade reconstruction” of hardware.

For example, in terms of structure, early industry products often used aluminum profiles for assembly, which seemed flexible but actually had issues with screw gaps affecting precision and long-term stability.

Maker Era took the lead in adopting an aluminum alloy die-cast structure through iterations. “Joints with screws inevitably have gaps; it’s just a matter of size,” Zhang said. “Our latest Makera Z1 uses an integrated die-cast frame, reducing the weight to 17 kilograms, so one person can easily carry it. At this weight, stability is optimized, and processing accuracy can still be maintained at near-industrial levels of 0.02mm.”

Internal structure of desktop CNC｜Image source: Makera

Additionally, they made many invisible innovations. For example, dust collection: traditional methods require large ducts and dust covers that block the processing area and cameras.

“We designed a side suction dust system. During processing, airflow blows downward, pushing dust to the side slopes, then vibrations push the dust to the bottom chamber, and an external vacuum removes it,” ensuring cleanliness without obstructing the view.

These modifications essentially transform industrial-grade equipment into household-grade devices.

Second, Zhang believes that when software truly “disappears,” CNC can go mainstream.

The biggest barrier in traditional CNC is toolpath design. Users need to use professional software like MasterCAM or UG, which discourages 99% of ordinary users.

Maker Era’s approach is to use AI to remove complexity.

Zhang said their self-developed CAM software is evolving toward “one-click toolpath generation.” “Since starting R&D in 2022, we plan to launch the first version in 2024, and a stable version in 2025. This year, we spent another year developing a smarter version supporting one-click operation. Beginners don’t need to learn programming; just import the model, and the toolpath is generated quickly.”

The future interaction will be more like an agent: users only need to input their needs, and the system automatically generates toolpaths, monitoring the process in real-time—such as tool anomalies, overloads, or the need to stop.

“AI’s enhancement of maker tools is huge. Combining large model interaction capabilities with underlying motion control algorithms creates a one-click AI processing agent, which is key to pushing products to millions of sales.”

Third, and most often overlooked but extremely critical, is the content ecosystem.

“Users don’t know what they can do with this machine,” to solve this, Zhang assembled a team of dozens to create case studies, researching daily what works for consumer CNC, filming tutorials, and uploading to the community—teaching users to make wood carvings, metal badges, and even filter adapters.

“Our plan is to produce over 100 pieces of content monthly, plus the existing over 10k user-uploaded works, forming a large-scale content library.”

This is the beginning of conversion.

This logic mirrors the explosive growth path of 3D printing: when users see others in the community making steampunk gears from brass, they get the impulse, “I can do it too,” and then buy machines and materials.

“Building a content ecosystem from zero to one is essential,” Zhang revealed. “Our community and new smart software will launch in the second quarter of this year.”

The turning point for reaching one million units is here

Today, Maker Era is experiencing rapid growth, with annual revenue multiplying: from tens of millions in 2023 since product sales began, to several hundred million by 2025, and several times growth in the first quarter of 2026. Zhang predicts that the growth will accelerate in the coming years.

“We believe breaking the one million shipment mark in this industry is not far off—probably within two or three years.”

In the past, users of such devices were mainly top-tier makers—technically skilled, with time and interest, among the earliest adopters.

But now, the boundaries are breaking.

“The industry now has a user base of around 100,000 to several hundred thousand, but we aim to reach one million or more. If the market itself is small, a few companies fighting over the existing pie is pointless.”

Zhang believes that the most critical new growth will no longer come from hardcore top-tier makers but from lowering barriers through technology, converting tens of millions of DIY enthusiasts, small businesses, schools, and corporate clients into new CNC users.

“They might start with 3D printers, but after using them for a while, they’ll find that the precision and appearance of plastic parts don’t meet expectations, leading to demand for CNC equipment.”

Additionally, there is a huge community of woodworking and metalworking hobbyists. “The European and American markets are especially obvious: low-cost wood materials, large audiences, and potential users involved in home renovation and traditional craftsmanship—all totaling tens of millions.”

To push desktop CNC from early niche markets into mainstream, Zhang revealed that product prices will further decrease.

2026 will be a critical year for desktop CNC from 1 to 10.

In Zhang’s vision, future home workshops will combine “CNC + 3D printing + laser engraving.”

CNC will handle subtractive machining of metals and woods, focusing on strength and texture; 3D printing will produce complex plastic parts additively; laser engraving will handle marking and sheet cutting. Each plays its role and complements the others.

Maker Era’s goal is to create affordable, user-friendly CNC infrastructure.

It’s foreseeable that when millions of devices enter households worldwide and tens of millions of people have personal access to precise manufacturing— the future of manufacturing will not only be in distant factories but also on everyone’s desk and in their garages.