Chinese 3D printing company HeyGears raised more than 300 million Yuan (roughly $44 million) in a new Series C funding round as it looks to expand beyond its industrial and dental roots into the consumer market.The funding was led by Legend Capital and Fortune Ventures, with participation from Gopher Asset Management, CAS Investment Management, and Guoke Investment.The company said the new capital will support product development, materials research, and broader expansion of its 3D printing ecosystem.
This latest financing follows earlier fundraising rounds, including a $60 million Series B round in 2019 and a 325 million Yuan ($48 million) Series A round in 2018.How HeyGears Got Here HeyGears first gained attention in digital dentistry, where its resin 3D printers are used for aligners, crowns, dentures, and surgical guides.Founded in Guangzhou in 2015 by a group of Chinese entrepreneurs from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, including co-founder Heyuan Huang and CEO Peiyan Gui, the company has spent the last several years trying to turn itself into a much broader 3D printing ecosystem company.
So HeyGears is not just trying to stay inside the dental world anymore.The company has been moving into industrial manufacturing, creator markets, and prosumer markets with its Reflex printer series, while also investing heavily in AI software, materials, and automated workflows.According to HeyGears, it now holds more than 400 patents tied to different parts of its 3D printing business.
Earlier on, HeyGears also worked in the hearables and wireless earbud space, which helped the company develop some of its early high-precision printing technology.During the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the HeyGears team were also involved in the University of Illinois-linked RapidVent ventilator project.HeyGears Reflex 2 Series at work.
Shifting Gears at HeyGears The funding also comes at a time when competition in 3D printing is getting much more intense, especially among Chinese companies.Selling printers alone seems to no longer be enough.More companies are now trying to build full ecosystems around their machines, including materials, software, AI tools, and services.
That matters because hardware margins across the industry are getting smaller.Chinese outlets 36Kr and Dealroom reported that around 70% of HeyGears’ revenue now comes from materials instead of printer sales.This means the company is making much of its money from the products customers keep buying after they purchase the machine.
But this isn’t new at all.In fact, that model is very common across much of the 3D printing industry.Companies often make more long-term money from materials, software, and service contracts than from the printers themselves.
Major players like Stratasys, 3D Systems, Formlabs, Carbon, and HP have all built parts of their business around recurring sales of materials, software, maintenance, and other ongoing services.It’s basically the old “razor-and-blades” model that companies like Gillette helped popularize more than a century ago.Sell the machine first, then make steady money from the products customers keep buying afterward.
The same approach has long been used in everything from inkjet printers and coffee machines to medical devices and industrial manufacturing equipment.And in many ways, it fits incredibly well in additive manufacturing, where materials, workflows, software, and technical support often become just as important as the actual hardware.Resin’s Next Big Push? The company also said it has invested more than 1 billion Yuan (roughly $148 million) into R&D since its founding.
Part of that investment now appears tied to HeyGears’ growing consumer ambitions.In 2025, the company launched the Reflex 2 and Reflex 2 Pro resin printers, targeting smaller businesses, creators, studios, and professional users looking for higher-quality resin printing with simpler workflows.The goal seems to be making resin printing easier and more mainstream at a time when filament-based FDM systems still dominate the consumer market.
That has been one of the biggest problems with resin printing for years.Resin printers can produce cleaner and more detailed parts, but they are also messier, harder to use, and usually require more cleanup than traditional filament printers.But HeyGears sees that gap as an opportunity.
HeyGears Reflex 2 Pro.One of the biggest announcements tied to the funding news was the company’s plan to launch what it describes as a “true full-color, true 3D capabilities” consumer resin printing system in the third quarter of 2026.Few details have been released so far, but the move suggests HeyGears wants to compete much more directly in the fast-growing desktop and prosumer 3D printing market.
If successful, the move could put HeyGears into more direct competition with some of the fastest-growing companies in desktop 3D printing, including several Chinese brands that have expanded quickly around the world over the last few years.Clearly, the company may have started in dental 3D printing, but its ambitions now look much bigger than that.Images courtesy of HeyGears Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
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