In recent years, as digital manufacturing technology has become more accessible, desktop-level tools for creators and small businesses have started to gain wider attention. Beijing Makera Technology Co., Ltd. (known as Makera) is one such company. Founded in 2019, Makera aims to bring traditional industrial-grade manufacturing capabilities to ordinary desks and even home environments, enabling more people to explore creation and hands-on fabrication.
Makera’s core products are desktop CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines, also known as computer-controlled carving and cutting machines. These devices are controlled by computer programs and can carve, cut, and process materials such as wood, plastic, and aluminum. For everyday users, CNC machines can be used to create crafts, personalized gifts, or models, and they are also commonly applied in education, product prototyping, and small-scale manufacturing.
The Carvera series from Makera can handle really complex carving and cutting, so users can take a digital design and turn it straight into a real, physical product. Then there’s the Carvera Air and the newest Makera Z1—they step things up with even better precision, a bigger range of materials, and cool extras like laser engraving. Basically, users can do at home what used to need a full professional workshop.
The Makera Z1 is a desktop CNC machine, compact in size and easy to operate, yet capable of high precision of around 0.02 millimeters and multiple functions. It can be used for a wide range of projects, such as crafting wooden items, producing small metal parts, creating PCB (Printed Circuit Board) prototypes, making model components, or serving as an educational tool. Compared with traditional large CNC machines, the Z1 is more user-friendly and space-efficient, making it ideal for makers, classroom settings, and design studios.
Beyond the hardware, Makera also puts a lot of effort into software and community. With its own Makera Studio software, users can turn design files into machining programs, preview the process, and tweak things before actually cutting. On top of that, the company runs an online platform where creators share projects and tips, which makes the tools much easier to learn—especially for beginners.
Market-wise, Makera’s products have drawn attention both in China and overseas. The company sells directly to global users through crowdfunding platforms, where demand has been strong. Carvera and Carvera Air each raised over one million dollars on Kickstarter, and the latest Makera Z1 went even further, bringing in more than ten million dollars in just 45 days. That response shows there’s real interest worldwide in desktop manufacturing tools that are powerful but still accessible.
Makera isn’t a typical consumer electronics company. Instead, it focuses on building tools for makers, designers, schools, and small manufacturing teams. The machines are relatively easy to use but flexible enough to handle everything from crafts and classroom projects to prototypes and small production runs.
To dig deeper into Makera’s thinking, our team had the chance to speak with Dyson, Makera’s CMO, about how the company is building its products and going global.
Q: Why did Makera choose overseas markets as its main focus?
Dyson: It’s actually quite simple—the market environment is different. In China, people are used to “what you see is what you get.” If you need a chair, you simply buy one because it is cheap and fast. In the US and Europe, especially in the US, there is a strong garage culture.
People enjoy making things themselves and are more willing to pay for tools that save time and improve precision. Our core users are mainly overseas, where the market is more mature and user education costs are lower.
Q: How do you convince Western consumers to pay for higher-priced products?
Dyson: It comes down to the product itself. Storytelling doesn’t really work in the maker tools space—performance does. We pack industrial-grade features like automatic tool changing and high-precision machining into a desktop-sized machine, at a fraction of the price of industrial equipment.
When users get their hands on it and see what it can do, the value is obvious. That’s far more convincing than any marketing message.
Q: With the team based in China and users overseas, were there cultural gaps?
Dyson: Early on, we assumed our users were all hardcore geeks who could figure things out on their own. But many of our users are actually designers or jewelers—they don’t want to be programmers. They just want to press a button and make something.
Because we operate in a direct-to-consumer model, we spend a lot of time in user communities, especially on Discord and Facebook. We listen closely to complaints and feedback, and we make changes quickly. Today, our product decisions are shaped by real user feedback, not by assumptions made in meeting rooms.
Q: How does the supply chain in China, particularly the Greater Bay Area, give Makera an advantage overseas?
Dyson: Honestly, without China’s supply chain, Makera might not have survived the prototype stage. What it gives us isn’t just lower cost, but speed. In Shenzhen, you can send out a design in the morning and receive the part the same afternoon.
In the US, that might take two weeks. This means that in the same amount of time, we can make ten rounds of improvements, while overseas competitors manage just one. That speed is a huge advantage.
Q: Was there a defining moment in Makera’s journey overseas?
Dyson: The key moment was launching on Kickstarter. Before that, we weren’t sure—would people trust us? Would they believe that a high-precision desktop CNC machine at this price point was even real? But once the campaign went live, we hit our goal within minutes and eventually raised 10.24 million dollars.
That moment made it clear: thousands of makers around the world were willing to vote with their wallets. It confirmed that we were on the right path by targeting the gap in professional-grade desktop machines.
