【Hangzhou, Ch】Lei Jun Sets Sights on the New Aristocrats of Gold

Hangzhou-based high-end gold jewelry brand “Baolan,” specializing in filigree inlay and ancient gold craftsmanship, recently completed a Series A financing round exceeding 100 million yuan, backed by a star-studded investor lineup.
Beyond Challenge Capital led by Yuanqi Forest founder Tang Binsen and luxury giant Kering Group, Shunwei Capital, whose legal representative is Lei Jun, also participated. The joint bet by these three giants underscores a capital consensus on the high-end ancient gold craftsmanship sector.
Public information shows that while Baolan may not be as widely known as Laopu Gold, its sense of luxury has always been present. Its signature “filigree inlay” technique, a 3,000-year-old imperial craft, is hailed as the crown jewel among the “Eight Great Skills of Yanjing” in ancient gold craftsmanship.
As early as January 2019, Baolan was the only jewelry brand invited to exhibit at the 2019 Shanghai Top Luxury Appreciation Fair, competing on the same stage with international luxury brands like Vacheron Constantin.
Coincidentally, on the same day Baolan announced its funding from renowned investors, Lanzhou-based gold handcraft art brand “Linchao Jewelry,” another member of the “Four Sisters of Ancient Gold,” also announced good news of a strategic investment worth hundreds of millions of yuan, exclusively funded by Dayone Capital.

The story of Baolan dates back to 1988. The brand originated from a family of gold jewelry artisans. Founder Xu Bidong began diligently learning traditional goldsmithing skills in his teens, later opening a gold workshop and starting a jewelry business.
In 2017, Baolan opened its first store in Hangzhou Tower. Subsequently, it entered Hangzhou MixC in 2020 and Shenzhen MixC in 2025. With only three stores, its expansion pace and store location strategy align more closely with the operational logic of luxury brands.
In fact, Baolan is indeed one of the “Hermès of Gold.” Unlike mainstream gold jewelry brands that focus on narratives of “weight and value preservation,” Baolan has, since its inception, deeply cultivated ancient Chinese royal gold-making techniques. Its biggest feature is the “filigree inlay” craft, where a complex piece often requires months of meticulous craftsmanship.
This technique requires artisans to hammer and draw gold into fine threads, then perform dozens of delicate processes like pinching, filling, gathering, and welding with their fingertips, weaving hair-thin gold threads into intricate, three-dimensional patterns over time.

Consequently, the company has attracted several master inheritors of the national intangible cultural heritage “filigree inlay” technique and their disciples. Media reports indicate that Baolan upgraded its production lines in 2019 and 2023, now boasting a talent梯队 of 60 goldsmiths. It is also China’s first pure gold brand to launch filigree inlay products that meet industry standards.
Naturally, this leads to Baolan’s premium pricing. According to its Tmall store, a pair of ancient handmade gold filigree palace lantern-shaped earrings weighing 33.97 grams is priced at 67,569.12 yuan, averaging nearly 1,989 yuan per gram.
Thus, stemming from the inheritance and innovation of the intangible cultural heritage “filigree inlay” technique, combined with the unique positioning of “traditional craftsmanship + modern design,” Baolan, like Laopu Gold, is building the jewelry accessory and luxury attributes of its products around the concept of “ancient gold craftsmanship.”
Shunwei Capital founder Lei Jun has always favored projects with technological barriers. Baolan’s nearly four-decade accumulation of craftsmanship aligns highly with his investment logic.

Of course, with Laopu Gold setting the example, Baolan is not the only one “favored.” This April, Taobao Tmall specifically established new categories for high-craftsmanship gold and IP gold. Among them, the “Four Sisters of Ancient Gold” represented by Laopu, Junpei, Linchao, and Baolan have sparked a high-end crafted gold storm with their exquisite intangible cultural heritage ancient techniques and culturally confident Eastern aesthetics.
Currently, apart from Junpei which hasn’t publicly announced capital partnerships, Laopu Gold is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, and Linchao and Baolan even announced their latest financing progress on the same day, all having entered the capital’s视野.
According to public information, Linchao Jewelry was founded in 2006. Founder Ma Chaoxian was born into a gold processing family, immersed in the environment since childhood, and could make rings by age 14. Against this background, Linchao Jewelry particularly insists on极致 handcrafting, original design, and cultural orientation, with 99% of its products being original.
In terms of craftsmanship, every Linchao piece pursues extreme工艺 complexity. The brand’s specialties, gold carving and filigree techniques, may take months or even up to a year to polish because “the filigree is entirely hand-twisted,” preventing industrial mass production.
Precisely because of this customization model, which doesn’t require massive inventory like traditional brands, Linchao’s need for funds is less urgent, making the story of Dayone Capital’s investment quite interesting.
According to 36Kr, driven by the belief that “Chinese brands will definitely appear in the world’s luxury行列,” Dayone Capital founder Chen Feng visited the company over a dozen times in more than a year to invest in Linchao Jewelry, but was initially turned away.

This led to Dayone Capital investing in two rounds within half a year this year.
Initially, Linchao limited its business radius to Lanzhou. However, in 2020, it turned to online live streaming, entering consumers’视野 through “documentary-style” detailed recordings of the gold jewelry making process, which dramatically boosted its知名度.
Despite having only one offline store, its annual revenue achieved multiple-fold growth. As of November 2025, Linchao’s annual sales exceeded the 500 million yuan mark. Its Taobao flagship store has 504,000 followers, second only to Laopu among the “Four Sisters of Ancient Gold.” Consequently, Linchao is called an internet-rooted ancient gold brand.
While the “Four Sisters of Ancient Gold” reap substantial profits with high premiums and enjoy a honeymoon period with capital, traditional gold jewelry brands are gradually struggling to sell as gold prices soar.
Take Laopu’s shareholder, the “Jewelry Big Brother” Chow Tai Fook, for example. In fiscal year 2025, its revenue was 89.656 billion HKD, down 17.5% year-on-year. Although operating profit grew 9.8% to 14.746 billion HKD, net profit attributable to shareholders fell 9.0% to 5.916 billion HKD.
Chow Tai Fook attributed the operating profit growth mainly to optimized product mix and strict cost management. However, fluctuations in gold prices led to a fair value loss on gold borrowing of 6.18 billion HKD, impacting FY2025’s net profit.
Additionally, within just one year, Chow Tai Fook net closed 896 stores in the Chinese mainland market. This makes a strategic transformation迫在眉睫. Increasing the design premium and工艺 added value of gold products, and adding high-margin priced products across categories have become part of Chow Tai Fook’s solution.
In recent years, Chow Tai Fook has continuously focused on optimizing and enriching its iconic product series to advance brand transformation. As early as April 2024, it combined “tradition and innovation” to launch the Chow Tai Fook “Chuanfu Series.” Subsequently, in August, Chow Tai Fook collaborated with the Beijing Palace Museum to launch the Chow Tai Fook Palace Museum Series, drawing inspiration from the museum’s treasured art pieces to design Chinese traditional culture and craftsmanship into jewelry suitable for daily wear.
This year, Chow Tai Fook also launched the “Chuanxi Series” and simultaneously added new items to both the Chuanfu and Palace Museum series. In the first half of fiscal year 2026, sales of the Chuanxi, Chuanfu, and Palace Museum series reached 3.4 billion HKD, a 48% year-on-year increase, already becoming a crucial pillar of its performance growth.
Furthermore, it’s not just Chow Tai Fook “copying Laopu’s homework.” As a century-old brand, Lao Feng Xiang launched a非遗 filigree series, integrating traditional craftsmanship to test the high-end定制 market,对标 Laopu Gold’s ancient high-end路线. It also uses国潮 designs to enhance product premium through forms like 3D hard gold blind boxes.
Caibai Co., Ltd. also专门 launched the sub-brand “Caibai Chuanshi” to深耕 the ancient gold field, emphasizing the combination of traditional craftsmanship and culture, aligning with the core product logic of Laopu Gold.
Luk Fook Jewelry took a different path in craftsmanship, not only launching innovative工艺 series like “Ice Diamond Light Shadow Gold” that combines gold with fashionable sparkling effects but also creating the sub-brand “Fuman Chuanjia” to深耕 the ancient gold field. It launched series like “Fuman Tangchao” and “Songyun Chuanjia,”融合 ancient craftsmanship with traditional cultural elements. In its new three-year plan, it further listed “market-oriented products” as a focus.

By “referencing” Laopu, they are all seeking their own solutions.