Suddenly, three bigwigs jointly invested 100 million yuan and set their sights on a 30-year-old store in Hangzhou.

In 1988, the Beijing Filigree and Inlay Factory was dissolved, and a group of veteran goldsmiths with exceptional skills faced unemployment.

A young man named Xu Bidong approached them and invited 20 senior craftsmen to his company. Having entered the gold industry at an early age, he was well aware that the filigree and inlay skills mastered by these craftsmen were a scarce resource. This craft is the top of the "Eight Masterpieces of Yanjing," but at that time, it was neglected because the market favored simple 999.9 pure gold products.

This is the origin of the gold brand Borland. For more than 30 years, it has been dedicated to one thing: high - end gold jewelry using filigree and inlay techniques and ancient - style gold craftsmanship.

Recently, Borland completed a Series A financing round exceeding 100 million yuan, led by Challenger Capital, with Shunwei Capital and Kering Group following.

The legal representatives of Challenger Capital and Shunwei Capital are Tang Binsen and Lei Jun respectively. Lei Jun is well - known to many, while Tang Binsen is more famously known as the founder of Yuanqi Forest. Kering Group is a global luxury goods group with well - known brands such as Gucci and Balenciaga under its umbrella.

To this day, Borland only has three stores. The first store opened in Building D of Hangzhou Tower, and the second one is located in Hangzhou MixC. In March this year, it entered the Shenzhen MixC and opened its first store in South China.

Many people wonder why industry giants and luxury goods titans are betting on a relatively unknown "niche" brand?

Actually, they have spotted a profitable opportunity in a niche market that is booming.

01

Xu Bidong founded Borland because he recognized the value of filigree and inlay. This technique uses gold wires finer than a hair and takes dozens of processes such as pinching, filling, gathering, and welding to form the final product. It is said to have originated from the ancient royal court.

In 2008, he established Dingfu Jewelry in Hangzhou Xicheng Square. A year later, he founded Hangzhou Hongtong Trading and focused on the ancient - style gold market.

At that time, in the gold market, 999.9 pure gold ornaments were the mainstream. The filigree and inlay process is complex and time - consuming, so few brands delved deeply into it. Xu Bidong chose the less - traveled path and insisted on using traditional techniques to make products.

In 2012, the Borland brand under Hongtong Trading was registered. In 2018, he established Borland Culture and officially launched the brand operation of "Borland". The first Borland store opened in Building D of Hangzhou Tower. Without large - scale promotion, it attracted customers solely through its craftsmanship.

In 2020, the second store entered Hangzhou MixC. Next door is Laopu Gold, another giant in the ancient - style gold jewelry market.

Here, Borland achieved a sales per square meter of 166,800 yuan per month. A pair of 30 - gram filigree palace lantern earrings was sold for more than 60,000 yuan, and a 65 - gram inlaid bracelet was priced over 120,000 yuan, yet there was still a stable flow of customers.

Xu Bidong built a team of 60 goldsmiths. He preserved the skills of the old craftsmen and incorporated modern aesthetics, making traditional patterns such as the precious lotus flower and palace lantern more suitable for contemporary wearing.

In 2025, Borland opened its first store in South China in Shenzhen MixC. During the same period, the Hangzhou Tower store set a monthly sales record of over 10 million yuan.

02

Borland received investment because the industry giants saw the long - term growth potential in the differentiated high - end gold jewelry market.

Note that high - end gold jewelry here is different from ordinary gold ornaments. The most typical representative in this market segment is Laopu Gold. Customers of Laopu Gold buy gold ornaments with special craftsmanship like they buy "Hermès", rather than ordinary gold jewelry. Laopu Gold stores are located in high - end shopping malls such as SKP, IFC, and Plaza 66, adjacent to brands like Hermès and Chanel.

According to Yicai Magazine, in the first half of 2025, the sales of Laopu Gold's Beijing SKP store increased by nearly 220% year - on - year. Its mid - year performance in 2025 showed that in the first half of the year, the average store sales of Laopu Gold's Beijing SKP store were nearly 500 million yuan, exceeding all jewelry brands and first - tier luxury brands in this mall.

The change in the investment trend reflects the shift in consumer behavior.

The profit points in the gold jewelry industry are shifting from mainly "mass - produced pure gold ornaments" to the direction of "cultural identity + fashion/luxury/ high - end customization + experiential consumption".

In the past, the industry consisted of numerous scattered small "gold - making" factories and unknown brands, lacking enterprises that integrated design, manufacturing, retail, and brand communication. With the upgrading of consumption and the improvement of aesthetics, companies with a complete industrial chain and a focus on brand and design are gradually becoming the new trend.

There are actually not many enterprises in the industry that can truly achieve "ancient - style gold + handicraft + high - end positioning + cultural design + brand operation + high - quality experience" at the same time. This gives Borland a clear positioning space.

Looking at the competitive landscape, traditional gold and jewelry chains (such as Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang) still dominate the mainstream market. They focus on mass - producing pure gold, K - gold, platinum, and diamond - inlaid products. International luxury brands firmly hold the minds and customer groups of the high - end jewelry market.

What Borland really benchmarks against is "Laopu Gold", which has made a strong debut in the gold market in recent years. It is neither a mass - market accessory nor an international luxury brand that mainly features diamonds and imported gemstones.

Borland also does not pursue mass production or rely on traditional selling points such as "weight" and "value preservation". Its path is closer to that of Laopu Gold:

After its listing in Hong Kong on June 28 last year, the stock price of Laopu Gold soared. Together with Pop Mart and Mi Xue Bing Cheng, it was jokingly called the "Three Sisters of Consumption" by stock investors. This year, there was even a popular saying: "Buy technology stocks in the A - share market and buy consumer stocks in the Hong Kong stock market."

Overall, Borland's path is relatively clear: with the support of capital, it will strengthen its brand building and expand its channels simultaneously; by combining traditional craftsmanship with cultural narratives, it will build differentiated competitiveness.

03

The Chinese gold jewelry market is undergoing three key changes.

First, the motivation for purchasing has changed.

In the past, people mainly bought gold for the "three - gold" or "five - gold" items for weddings. Nowadays, young people regard gold ornaments as part of their daily outfits. They are willing to pay for design, stories, and handicrafts, rather than just focusing on the weight.

This explains why ancient - style gold, cultural elements, and intangible cultural heritage crafts have suddenly become popular. At the same time, the rising gold price has also enhanced the value - preservation property of gold jewelry, making it more "tangible and secure" compared to diamonds.

Second, traditional gold and jewelry chains are under the most pressure.

They rely on mass production and low - profit, high - volume sales. After the gold price rose, their profits were squeezed, and the inventory cost increased. As a result, many brands began to close stores and shrink. The industry has experienced an obvious "de - foaming" process.

In 2024 (as of December 2024), the turnover of Chow Sang Sang and Lao Feng Xiang decreased by 15% and 20.5% year - on - year respectively. In the fiscal year 2025 (as of March 31, 2025), the turnover of Chow Tai Fook and Luk Fook decreased by 17.5% and 12.9% year - on - year. They attributed this to "the impact of macro - economic external factors and the record - high gold price on consumer desire".

In contrast, high - end brands have benefited. In 2024, Laopu Gold's operating income was 8.5 billion yuan, with a net profit of 1.473 billion yuan, a net profit attributable to the parent company of 17.3%, and a gross profit margin of 41.2%. Its growth rate is astonishing. In 2022, its operating income was only 1.294 billion yuan, and the net profit was only 95 million yuan. In the past three years, the compound annual growth rate of the net profit attributable to the parent company reached 134%.

They earn not from the gold price difference but from the "craft premium", "design premium", and "status premium". The combination of gold with brand and cultural core can still command a high price.

However, this market segment is not an easy - money business. It has two natural thresholds: difficult craftsmanship, long production cycle, and high cost; it requires skilled workers and a stable supply chain.

The brand building of gold jewelry is a slow process. Whether consumers are willing to pay a premium depends on trust, which cannot be achieved by bombarding with advertisements.

Looking at the trend, high - end gold will still be popular.

The reason is not that "gold is precious", but that it meets three requirements simultaneously: it can be worn, it has cultural connotations, and it can preserve value.

This combination is very unique in the minds of Chinese consumers. In other words, some users who buy Laopu Gold and Borland have a similar psychology to those who buy LV and Hermès: they want others to know that they are using Hermès.

This article does not constitute any investment advice.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Pencil News" (ID: pencilnews), written by Song Ge and published by 36Kr with permission.