Temasek backs China industrial SaaS player

Existing investors including Huaxing Growth Capital, Lightspeed China Partners, GSR Ventures, Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI), GGV Capital, and ZhenFund re-upped.

Black Lake received angel funding from ZhenFund, China Growth Capital, and IDG Capital Partners in 2016, AVCJ Research's records show. A year later, ZhenFund and China Growth returned for the Series A. GSR and BAI then led an RMB150 million Series B in 2019.

Founded in 2016, Black Lake helps manufacturers improve operational efficiency through digitalization. Its software enables smart work scheduling, real-time monitoring of production processes, remote quality control, inventory management, facilities maintenance, and data analysis. It helps factories respond quickly to market demand, transforming from "design-guided manufacturing" to "demand-guided manufacturing."

The company claims to have served 2,000 manufacturers, including China Resources Group, Nongfu Spring, L'Oreal, Tesla, and Xiaomi. Its products connect seamlessly with dozens of systems - ranging from enterprise resource management to warehouse management - and nearly 1,000 different types of equipment, forming closed-loop data chains.

Black Lake said its business grew 300% in 2020 with a contract renewal rate of 150%. Some alterations were made to the business model, with customized development abandoned in favor of micro-service architecture, which simplifies software deployment. It typically takes four to six weeks to implement the system.

Taihe Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor for the funding round.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Technology
• China
• manufacturing
• Temasek Holdings
• Bertelsmann Asia Investments
• Lightspeed Venture Partners
• GSR Ventures
• China Renaissance
• GGV Capital
• ZhenFund