Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Chen Yansen lifted his gaze, meeting everyone’s eyes, and spoke slowly and deliberately.

The implication was clear: either Huake Capital and Jinsha Venture Capital withdraw, or they raise the price to 3.2 billion US dollars.

Yu Heng’s initial offer was just over 3 billion, but that didn’t mean his authority was capped there. He could certainly approve a fluctuation of less than 200 million.

Zhou Shouzhi and Cai Yongjin exchanged a look. They instantly understood that their offers must have been the highest.

But judging from Chen Yansen’s attitude, he clearly didn’t want to give up on Huake Capital and Jinsha Venture Capital. Even knowing Goldman Sachs’ and DST’s offers, he was still willing to accept a minimum valuation of 3.2 billion US dollars.

’This is a sharp young man with a great sense of the big picture!’

Cai Yongjin assessed him silently.

The essence of fundraising is trading equity for capital and resources. Many founders fall into the trap of thinking ’just pick whoever offers the highest valuation’.

They often overlook whether the equity structure supports sustainable growth or if the venture capital firm can bring intangible resources that drive business expansion.

In these two respects, Chen Yansen’s handling of the situation was exceptionally shrewd.

In the Series A round, Senlian Capital brought in five investors at once, diversifying the equity. Aside from the slightly larger stakes held by Penguin and Ah Li, the holdings of DST, Huake Capital, and Jinsha Venture Capital were all between 2% and 3%.

Chen Yansen didn’t have to worry in the slightest about losing control due to excessive equity dilution.

After hearing Yu Heng’s reply, Zhu Xiaohu felt everyone’s gaze land on him. He considered it for a moment, then finally nodded.

Gao Weilin had given him a heads-up beforehand. This financing round would use a strategy of layered financing or phased financing to solve the problem of non-uniform offers.

For Huake Capital and Jinsha Venture Capital, a 3.2 billion US dollar valuation was already their limit.

As for the difference, Yu Heng and Zhu Xiaohu would have to make it up with additional resources. Otherwise, Chen Yansen would still kick them out.

”Given the differing offers, Fast Taxi’s Series B financing will adopt a layered financing approach. The difference from the highest valuation can be paid through various means, such as industry resources, management support, talent networks, and capital ecosystems.”

Chen Yansen said slowly.

This plan wasn’t exactly fair to DST and Goldman Sachs, but they were foreign investors. They couldn’t help Fast Taxi with policy-related benefits.

Take Huake Capital, for instance. Their offer was the lowest during the Series A round, but they could easily secure authorization documents from the Transportation Associations in the North China, East China, and Southern China regions. This allowed Fast Taxi to promote itself from the top down within the taxi industry.

On the driver’s side, the reason Fast Taxi could suppress DiDi was absolutely inseparable from Huake Capital’s assistance.

It was the same for Penguin and Ah Li. If they couldn’t meet the price, they had to provide resources.

”I have no objection,” Zhou Shouzhi was the first to state his position.

Even if he didn’t accept, Chen Yansen would still use phased financing to diversify the investors’ shareholding ratios: first, accept the funds corresponding to the agreed-upon valuation portion, and then, after the initial firms were finalized, open the next phase of financing for the remaining amount.

It was equivalent to splitting the Series B round into multiple smaller operations.

In essence, there was no difference, which was why Chen Yansen was being so frank about it.

”No problem, but the valuation of the additional resources must be approved by everyone,” Cai Yongjin said in a low voice, pushing up his glasses.

Whether it was layered or phased financing, both were common in the investment industry. As long as all participating parties could accept it, there wasn’t a major issue.

Seeing that the two investment firms with the highest offers had agreed, Chen Yansen’s worries were dispelled. He had Gao Weilin and Cheng Weixing split up to communicate with each of the investment firms.

Senlian Capital’s accompanying financial analysts distributed the financial health data for Fast Taxi—such as its revenue structure, costs, and profits—to the financial staff of each investment firm for their review.

Once the general direction was set, the subsequent negotiations went much more smoothly.

Ma Liyun invited Cai Yongjin, Chen Yansen, and the others to an octagonal pavilion downstairs for tea, leaving the contract details to their subordinates.

Just as they left the banquet hall, Liu Zhiping came over and asked, ”When is Pinbei’s Series B financing round going to start?”

”President Liu, you know as well as I do that Pinbei isn’t short on cash,” Chen Yansen replied with a smile.

He knew in his heart that Ma Wenteng was probably getting anxious.

The traffic portal agreement between Pinbei and Penguin had only been signed for one year. With the contract about to expire, Ma Wenteng wanted to continue using traffic resources in exchange for a deeply integrated partnership with Chen Yansen.

”What about a primary traffic portal on WeChat and QQ?” Liu Zhiping pressed, refusing to believe Chen Yansen wasn’t tempted.

”I actually feel a little bad for always mooching free traffic off Penguin,” Chen Yansen said, though his expression showed not a hint of embarrassment.

Liu Zhiping sneered. He didn’t believe Chen Yansen’s nonsense for a second. ’The one being mooched off doesn’t even mind, and you’re the one acting all aggrieved?’

Then he asked, ”All Penguin can offer is capital and traffic. What else do you want?”

”Add Orange Pay to WeChat’s ecosystem portal,” Chen Yansen replied with a smile, stopping in his tracks.

Orange Pay?

Liu Zhiping chuckled and shook his head. ”Pony would never agree to that. Not unless you sell Orange Pay to WeChat, or let Penguin buy a controlling stake in it.”

”Then let’s try another one. Add Fast Taxi and Kuai Pao to the primary traffic portal,” Chen Yansen said, his expression calm.

”...” Liu Zhiping pointed at Chen Yansen, speechless for a moment before breaking into a laugh. He realized the guy was playing a ”broken windows” game with him—making an outrageous demand first to make the next one seem reasonable. He cursed good-naturedly, ”You really are greedy!”

”Penguin is also a shareholder in Fast Taxi and Kuai Pao,” Chen Yansen stated.

”Just one of them, and not even a major shareholder. If you were willing to give Penguin a bit more equity, it would be easier for Pony to justify it to the board.”

After his retort, Liu Zhiping began to seriously consider the proposal.

”How much is ’a bit more’?” Chen Yansen asked.

”That depends on your sincerity,” Liu Zhiping replied.

The two of them, walking behind the main group, reached a preliminary agreement in just a few short minutes.

If Penguin wanted to invest more money, Chen Yansen certainly wasn’t going to stop them.

Whether in the food delivery or ride-hailing sectors, the initial costs for market and user cultivation ran into the billions, or even tens of billions of Hua Yuan. The more sugar daddies, the better.

For the next two days, Chen Yansen was either visiting NetEase or was a guest at Ali Headquarters.

It wasn’t until the afternoon of the last day of July that all the investment firms finally confirmed the contract details with Senlian Capital.

The formal signing, transfer of funds, and other procedures would still take another half a month to a month. Each company’s process was different, some faster, some slower.

However, Chen Yansen wasn’t in a hurry. After all, Fast Taxi’s corporate account still had nearly 20 million US dollars, enough to last until the next payment arrived.

「Meanwhile.」

In Yanjing, Li Yanhong had already received the news. When he learned that Fast Taxi’s Series B financing had reached over 500 million US dollars, his brow furrowed instantly.

Based on the current trend of the subsidy war, the monthly cash burn was 300 million Hua Yuan. Fast Taxi could last for another year.

But what about DiDi?

Would Junlian Capital be willing to continue injecting capital to keep them afloat?

That evening, when Cheng Wei learned of the result, his heart sank. The pressure on him instantly mounted.