Steven Denning was the chairman of Pan-Atlantic Capital and held immense sway within the group. Normally, given Hong Jing’s investment acumen, she would have never given Wang Xin and Meituan a second look. But the big boss had spoken, so she had no choice but to execute his orders.
"Five hundred million US dollars at most. Otherwise, Pan-Atlantic Capital is prepared to walk," Hong Jing said, her arms crossed. She added the remark before Wang Xin could even react.
"If it’s 500 million, Redwood Capital can accept that as well," Shen Nanpeng said, slowly straightening up.
Although he was bullish on Wang Xin and Meituan, as a seasoned investor, he knew that securing the most equity for the least amount of capital was the only way to maximize his return on investment.
As for their personal relationship?
Businesspeople don’t have time for sentimentality!
"Eight hundred million US dollars. That’s my bottom line," Wang Xin replied, his expression tight as he enunciated each word.
He refused to sell Meituan’s equity for cheap!
"Lashou Network sold for 420 million US dollars, and Nuomi Network for 150 million. Although Meituan has a slightly higher market share, that doesn’t justify a 100% premium. Five hundred million is Pan-Atlantic Capital’s final offer. If you don’t agree, President Wang, we can always revisit this next month."
A disdainful smile touched Hong Jing’s lips.
To protect its market share, Meituan had to pour huge sums into marketing and traffic acquisition daily. Not only was it failing to turn a profit, but it was also burning through tens of millions of US dollars every month.
If Pan-Atlantic and Redwood Capital didn’t invest, Meituan likely wouldn’t even survive until the end of the year.
Hong Jing knew it, Shen Nanpeng knew it, and Wang Xin knew it too.
After a long moment of contemplation, Wang Xin heaved a sigh and nodded heavily.
Even though Pan-Atlantic and Redwood Capital were clearly taking advantage of his predicament, he had no better option.
In any case, Meituan had a dual-class share structure, so Wang Xin wasn’t afraid of losing his controlling stake.
The three parties reached a preliminary cooperation agreement. Pan-Atlantic would lead the round, with Redwood Capital following on, to provide Meituan with a total of 75 million US dollars in development funds.
The financing was a success, but the valuation was far below what Wang Xin had hoped for.
To put it bluntly, Wang Xin’s strategy was to first ensure Meituan could survive, and then worry about future growth.
Sometimes equity is crucial; other times, it’s worthless.
「Elsewhere.」
After speaking with Gao Ling Capital, Today Capital, and Overseas Asia, Li Yanhong’s expression grew increasingly grim. Without exception, every single one of them had refused to make any additional investments.
Only Junlian Capital remained keenly interested in the DiDi Dache project, but Zhu Nanli’s demand put him in a difficult position. The man wanted to install Liu Yiqing as DiDi Dache’s CEO.
Li Yanhong refused without a second thought.
The subsidy war between Fast Taxi and DiDi Dache had burned through nearly a billion in just four months. For ordinary venture capital firms, it was best to steer clear of these two titans.
Even the "Thousand-Groupon War" at its most brutal didn’t see monthly losses of 200 million!
’They want us to foot the bill? Not a chance!’
Moreover, the battle between DiDi and Fast Taxi only appeared to be a struggle between ride-hailing platforms. In reality, it was a chess match between their financial backers.
DiDi had Qian Du in its corner, while Fast Taxi was backed by Senlian, Penguin, and Ah Li.
None of them were short on user traffic or capital. It was just a matter of seeing who would crack first.
Li Yanhong wanted to copy Chen Yansen’s strategy of roping in multiple VC firms to share the investment risk, but he was too slow to act. Chen Yansen had already recruited all the major players, from internet giants to state-owned capital, into the Fast Taxi camp.
Unless Fast Taxi’s operations suffered a major blunder, no one was going to switch horses midstream.
"Try Ping’an or Temasek."
After careful consideration, Li Yanhong had his assistant schedule a meeting with the head of investments at either Ping’an or Temasek.
DiDi Dache was losing three to four hundred million a month. The 600 million from its Series D funding was almost gone, so Li Yanhong was anxious to kick off a Series E round as soon as possible.
「At the same time.」
After securing Fast Taxi’s position in the North China, East China, and Central China markets, Cheng Weixing set his sights on the South China Market.
Its cities were dense, ride demand was high, and with a permanent population of 170 million, it could generate at least a million orders per day.
Conquer Southern China first, then take the Northeast. With that, they could basically lock down eighty percent of the national market share.
By then, DiDi would look like a child next to the behemoth that was Fast Taxi.
"I’ll give President Xiao and Old Pei a heads-up. We’ll expand Gaode Map’s O2O strategy to cover the southern market."
Cheng Weixing muttered to himself, then started a video conference.
"President Cheng, what’s up?" Pei Yi asked, looking into the camera.
"I’m preparing to expand Fast Taxi’s operations into the Southern China Region. I’ll need traffic support from you and President Xiao."
Cheng Weixing said with a smile.
Fast Taxi had dedicated entry points on Kuai Pao’s PC client and mobile app, as well as on Gaode Map. It was precisely because of this support from Kuai Pao and Gaode that Fast Taxi was able to keep DiDi’s market share firmly suppressed below twenty percent.
"So soon? I’m in," Xiao Jun readily agreed with a chuckle.
He got a cut from every Kuai Pao and Fast Taxi order that went through Gaode Map. This would increase his revenue and boost profitability.
All three companies were subsidiaries of Senlian Capital, so they coordinated with a natural synergy, and internal communication was seamless.
"The South China Market? Sounds good!" Pei Yi agreed with a nod.
The mole he’d planted inside Meituan had just informed him that Wang Xin was planning to expand their food delivery service into Southern China.
’So he wants to avoid a direct confrontation?’
’I won’t let him have his way!’
The three of them went back and forth for a good half hour before finalizing the marketing plan for the South China Market. In the end, they sent a joint email to Chen Yansen.
...
...
’The South China Market? Pei Yi and Cheng Weixing are expanding fast. It’s only been a little over half a year, and they’ve already locked down the North China, East China, and Central China markets.’
Chen Yansen opened the email and scrolled through it. It only took him a few seconds to read the trio’s proposal. There were no major issues; it was basically a carbon copy of their previous successful strategies.
It looked aggressive, but each step was carefully planned, solid and steady.
Without giving it much thought, Chen Yansen immediately approved the plan.
Under Cheng Weixing’s leadership, Fast Taxi had consistently maintained a leading position in the ride-hailing market.
His project operation and management skills were in no way inferior to Cheng Wei’s.
The world was full of talented people, as numerous as fish in the sea. It was just that most never met a patron who could recognize their worth, nor were they given a stage on which to shine.
As the sky outside darkened, Chen Yansen had dinner at the company cafeteria before driving back to Xuyuan.
He had just gotten out of the car when the phone in his pocket rang.
"Teacher Tang, what can I do for you?" Chen Yansen asked with a smile as he answered the call.
"You haven’t forgotten about tomorrow, have you?" Tang Qingshan asked tentatively.
"I’ve already prepared the speech," Chen Yansen lied without batting an eye.
"That’s good. You’re the face of our Xuyuan, you know. A lot of new students applied to Xucheng Academy just because of your reputation."
Tang Qingshan said, his voice full of emotion.
’Yeah, right,’
Chen Yansen scoffed. ’Others might not know, but I certainly do.’
’At least a third of the freshmen who get into Xuyuan are experts at score-gaming, deliberately aiming just high enough to scrape by. They barely passed the Tier 2 university cutoff. Where else would they go but Xuyuan?’
"Okay, I understand," Chen Yansen said, playing dumb and not calling him out on it.
"Alright, I won’t keep you then. Remember to get some rest and be in top form," Tang Qingshan added, still a bit worried, before hanging up.
’It’s just a welcoming ceremony. Does he have to be so serious about it?’
Chen Yansen put his phone away and shook his head with a sigh.
Just as he was about to head upstairs, he heard a noisy argument coming from the doorway of men’s dorm room number six.
"Dad, I want to drop out! This dump of a school is awful! There are praying mantises and grasshoppers on the balcony, and last night I even saw an Ah Piao!"
"Ah Piao my ass! The tuition’s already paid, so you’re staying put. You want to switch schools? Then you can study for the grad school entrance exams and get in somewhere else on your own! Stop coming up with these crazy ideas and making trouble for your old man!"
’Ah Piao?’
’Wait a damn minute... he couldn’t be talking about me, could he?’
Chen Yansen’s expression froze as the thought crossed his mind.
His Divine Sense only had a thirty-meter detection diameter. He’d been having a bit too much fun floating around last night and hadn’t been paying attention. It was entirely possible someone had spotted a blurry figure.
’Sigh, I have to be more careful.’
Chen Yansen had no desire for rumors of a haunting to start spreading around Xuyuan, so he made a resolution to avoid "flight mode" unless absolutely necessary.