Remarkable Youth: Venture Capital Record | From "Small and Beautiful" to "Large and Strong": The New Rising Star in the Industrial Control Industry, Nanjing Dekweir.

In April 2021, at the Zifeng Innovation Center in the Nanjing Pukou Economic Development Zone, looking out from Yang Lin's office window, the neatly arranged office buildings and well-planned greenery of the park are all in sight. "I returned to Nanjing to start a business from Shanghai nearly five years ago, and the company has grown from just two people to over 100 now. Dekwell has also grown from an unknown entity in the industry to a benchmark enterprise with a certain level of recognition in the industrial control sector." Reflecting on his entrepreneurial journey, founder Yang Lin expressed that the hardships are hard to articulate. From the moment he decided to start a business to the current scale of the company, he has never forgotten his original vision of building Dekwell into a national brand with independent technology ownership.

Born in 1987 into an ordinary rural family, Yang Lin faced challenging family conditions from a young age, which cultivated his resilient qualities to strive and grow in adversity. He cherishes the opportunities to study and learn, and through his own efforts, he successfully gained admission to Nanjing University of Science and Technology, majoring in Communication Engineering, and obtained a master's degree.

After being admitted to Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Yang Lin worked hard to learn professional knowledge. During his master's studies, he was selected by his mentor to intern at an automation company in Shanghai due to his excellent academic performance. This experience indirectly laid the foundation for Yang Lin's future entrepreneurship. During his internship in Shanghai, Yang Lin immersed himself in learning, desperately absorbing professional knowledge. The internship experience also inspired him to think about how to apply the professional knowledge he learned in practice, and it sparked his independent ideas for industrial control product design.

"During my internship in Shanghai, I was fortunate to attend the Shanghai Industrial Expo. While visiting, I couldn't imagine that the industrial expo held in China was monopolized by foreign brands. At that time, it was very difficult for local companies to make breakthroughs in the field of industrial automation." It was this unyielding spirit that led Yang Lin to give up the generous and stable offers from companies like ZTE and Huawei, as well as some research institutes, after graduating with his master's degree, and resolutely embark on the entrepreneurial path to revitalize the national industrial control brand.

In 2014, after graduating with a master's degree from Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Yang Lin returned to the Shanghai company where he had interned, growing from an ordinary technician to the head of the technical team. He quickly gained recognition from his leaders, transitioning from R&D head to market head, accumulating a wealth of operational experience. During his work, he also recognized the pain points in the domestic industrial control market: imported products are expensive, have long lead times, and after-sales service is inadequate; there are few domestic alternatives, their performance does not meet foreign standards, and stability is poor. There were no industry-customized products on the market, domestic companies lacked the capability to upgrade products, and foreign brands did not pay much attention to the industrial control communication module market. The entire industry's R&D level was still stuck in the 1990s.

In October 2016, based on his understanding of the industry, Yang Lin returned to Nanjing to establish Nanjing Dekwell Automation Co., Ltd., focusing on the R&D, production, and sales of industrial control products. In the early stages of entrepreneurship, due to insufficient funds, Yang Lin and co-founder Yan Gongkun started their business in a rented commercial apartment to save costs. "At the beginning, we hardly took any breaks for months, working until dawn every day, with the only breaks being for meals and restroom visits. Once the product was developed, we sought funds from friends and family to open molds, handling everything from product design, production, to sales ourselves." Fortunately, the first product received a good market response, and through price advantages, the company began to receive some scattered orders. The first product, the FS series—integrated industrial communication module, was the first domestic bus-type industrial communication module that combined industrial communication interface modules with signal control and acquisition modules. This product does not require an industrial communication bus backplane, has a faster response time, and higher stability, designed for scenarios with many field sensors and complex wiring, which also met the needs of many domestic small and medium-sized enterprises. Dekwell began to enter the industrial control field through this niche product and gradually gained market recognition.

In less than half a year, the first product began to attract distributors, and the company started to get on track. The team rented a 30-square-meter office in Jiangpu Mingfa New City Center. "This was our first office, and we began to take on the appearance of a company. To reduce expenses, we were reluctant to turn on the air conditioning in summer, working shirtless, and in winter, when it was cold, we could only wear many layers of clothing." Through continuous persistence and effort, the team developed multiple products in the FS series, and the company began to participate in some well-known domestic exhibitions, with Dekwell's brand starting to emerge.

In 2017, Yang Lin participated in the selection of outstanding entrepreneurial projects for young college students in Nanjing and won the second prize, receiving 150,000 yuan in equity investment from the Nanjing Innovation Investment Group and 150,000 yuan in government subsidies. With the development of the enterprise, the company moved to Pukou Science and Technology Innovation Square, expanding to over 100 square meters and increasing the staff to five, enabling the company to engage in the production of standardized products and technical support. The new office was relatively far from the subway, making transportation inconvenient, and team members could only go home once a week, living and eating in the office. Here, Dekwell received its first large order since its establishment, leading to rapid growth, and accumulating a good reputation and credibility in the industry based on technology and quality.

By the end of 2018, the company began to enter a period of rapid development. The previous office of over 100 square meters could no longer keep up with the pace of the company's growth, so the team began to move for the third time. "This time, we aimed for the Chuangzhan Building, where we secured an entire floor of over 700 square meters, and the team expanded to over 30 people. This time, I truly felt that we could be called an excellent enterprise. We built an organizational structure and market layout that matched the company's development, dividing into R&D, design, marketing, procurement, and finance departments, and we even had our own reception area." That year, the company's products began to attract attention and trial use from large domestic enterprises, and sales no longer relied solely on distributors. In 2018, Dekwell's revenue exceeded one million, successfully entering the supplier directories of major manufacturers such as Lens Technology, SANY Heavy Industry, BYD, and CATL.

With a keen sense of the market, Dekwell continued to make strides in the field of industrial communication modules. "I have always been deeply involved in the field of industrial automation, and I know the future potential of Chinese manufacturing. The domestic manufacturing industry is in a transformation stage, and the shortage of labor and rising labor costs will inevitably be addressed through industrial automation. Low-quality, low-price, low-end industrial automation brands can no longer meet the quality demands of domestic manufacturing. The industrial bus I/O field we are focusing on is a rigid demand in the automation sector." Even during the most difficult early stages of entrepreneurship, Yang Lin invested 20% of the company's revenue into R&D, believing that the only way to break the monopoly of foreign brands was through technological innovation for domestic substitution. Under Yang Lin's leadership, Dekwell developed three major product series, including the integrated industrial communication module FS series, the EX series, which can truly achieve hot-swappable functionality in China, and the VTC series, which combines solenoid valve control with industrial bus communication modules. The company has also accumulated 2 invention patents, 30 software copyrights, 8 utility model patents, and 9 design patents.

EX series

In 2020, overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic for a whole year, various industries faced severe tests, challenging both strategic determination and market adaptability. Dekweier timely adjusted its strategic direction, launching dozens of solutions targeting downstream applications such as food packaging, CNC machine tools, prefabricated buildings, and textiles. Through targeted customization, the competitiveness and stickiness of the company's products have been enhanced. These high-value-added solutions closely aligned with application scenarios can enter customer systems more quickly and form good stickiness. In addition, the company has begun to layout smart logistics, smart security, intelligent buildings, and smart city scenarios around industry solutions. "2020 was a year of both opportunities and challenges for us. Our business made rapid progress under the established strategic guidelines. However, due to increased inventory, the company faced cash flow issues. Thanks to the Nanjing Innovation Investment Group, which helped us connect with banks, we were able to get through the difficulties. The Nanjing Innovation Investment Group also actively coordinated with us for subsequent follow-up investments, which greatly boosted our confidence and determination to overcome difficulties." With the joint efforts of enterprises and capital, 2020 was a harvest year. The company established an office and R&D center in Wuxi, and its operating income exceeded ten million for the first time. Dekweier also received national high-tech enterprise certification.

In 2021, with the help of the Nanjing Innovation Investment Group and the Pukou Economic Development Zone, the company moved from the Chuangzhan Building to the Pukou Zifeng Innovation Center, with the number of employees exceeding 100. The company invested in the construction of thousands of square meters of standardized factory buildings. Currently, the company has mastered most bus technologies in the industrial control industry, including ProfiNET, EtherCAT, CCLINK, DeviceNET, and CANopen. Dekweier has also begun to transform into a provider of integrated solutions combining software and hardware, and will launch its independently developed small PLC in the next two years, gradually occupying a place in the core market of the industrial control industry.

From studying in Nanjing to starting a business in Nanjing, Nanjing is the place where Yang Lin's dreams set sail and also the stage for him to showcase his talents. Over the years, he has fallen deeply in love with this city: "It is a talent hub, with a favorable business environment, generous entrepreneurial policies, complete industrial support, and a developed manufacturing industry, making it very suitable for Dekweier's development and growth." With the initial vision in mind, facing new opportunities and challenges, Yang Lin and his Dekweier will continue to run forward on this entrepreneurial hotbed in Nanjing.