Editor’s Note
Kering’s venture arm is placing a strategic bet on China’s burgeoning 24-karat gold jewelry market, targeting younger consumers. This move signals confidence in a niche trend that continues to grow despite rising gold prices and a broader luxury slowdown in the region.
Kering’s investment fund, dedicated to promising startups, has taken a minority stake in the fast-growing brand within China’s thriving 24-karat gold jewelry segment, which is favored by younger generations. The luxury group is thus betting on a trend that defies the rise in the price of this precious metal and the slowdown of the luxury market in the Middle Kingdom.
Gold captivates young Chinese…
And this trend has not escaped the vigilance of the Kering group, which has just launched its “House of Dreams”. The purpose of this new structure is to invest long-term, either as a minority or majority shareholder, in emerging brands with promising potential or to establish partnerships with them.
Now, the luxury group, now led by Luca de Meo, has just taken a minority stake in the Chinese jeweler Borland, via Kering Ventures, its investment fund dedicated to promising startups.
Founded in 1988 in Hangzhou, the startup revealed in early December that it had completed a funding round of over 100 million yuan (14 million dollars). Among the investors is Kering Ventures, alongside the leading Chinese venture capital firm Shunwei Capital, co-founded by billionaire Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi, a company specializing in mobile phones and consumer electronics.