Ordinary Road 2010

Zhang Lei smiled brightly. Lin Yi said it in his own words just now, which was somewhat flattering.

Of course, these theoretical things cannot be said to be completely false, but they are too empty as a basis for investment decision-making. As an investor, he sees it as more realistic.

"To be honest, Lin Yi, Gaoling Capital is not a pure venture capital firm. We usually don't make a deal at the stage you are in now."

"Although you won the largest market share in the subsidy war at the beginning of the year, in essence your business model is no different from that of Dudu and Kuaidu. With the emergence of Uber, your moat is actually very shallow."

"Lin Yi, it's not a problem for me to invest in the taxi-hailing industry or invest in you, but you have to give me a convincing reason."

His words are considered polite. The concept of a moat refers to an advantage that others cannot replace. Traveling thousands of miles is still difficult to talk about now.

Gaoling Capital is very different from Juro Shen's Hongshan and other venture capital institutions, because it is not a venture capital firm at all.

The company founded by Zhang Lei was later called the largest private equity fund in Asia. In other words, everyone regarded him as a PE rather than a VC.

A notable feature is that the scale of funds managed by Gaoling Capital is very large, exceeding US$1000 billion.

The larger the fund size, the better, because the larger the amount, the more difficult and costly it is to manage, which may lower the overall rate of return.

Well-known venture capital institutions will not do this even if their ability to raise funds is not a problem, because if they only engage in early-stage investment, they simply cannot spend so much money.

Therefore, Zhang Lei did not limit himself to the primary market. In fact, he also has a large layout in the secondary market. Gao Ling later worked on major projects such as Gree and Belle, which are listed companies with hundreds of billions of dollars.

But the good news is that he is really rich.

Therefore, Liu Jianni said that if Zhang Lei is willing to pay, the amount of this round of financing will not be a problem. Considering his usual generosity, it is very likely that it will exceed expectations.

Chapter 454 The fastest unicorn in history

"Mr. Zhang, as you said, the business model of Wanli Travel is not fundamentally different from that of Dudu and Kuaidu, but so far we have always grasped the initiative of this industry."

"I think this is enough to prove that our team and business strategy are superior to the other two."

"Although it is suspected of self-selling and boasting in this way, you should understand that the position we already occupy in the industry will only become more and more stable, and it is almost invincible."

Zhang Lei said with an undiminished smile: "I am afraid that Dudu and Kuaidu will not agree with what you said. In fact, they have also looked for me before."

"The reason why I am willing to meet you this time is that apart from Jane's introduction and wanting to get to know you, an attractive young entrepreneur, I am also looking forward to what fresh ideas you can bring me."

"Lin Yi, I have been observing the taxi-hailing industry for a long time."

"You may have heard the story of my investment in the dog factory. When my junior from the Sociology Department of Jiang University came to me, he only wanted 7500 million US dollars, but I gave him 3 million US dollars."

"Of course I gave him so much to get more shares in the dog factory, but the more important reason is that I think he needs so much money to build his own unique leading edge."

"However, in the ride-hailing industry, I haven't found an irreplaceable key factor like logistics infrastructure, which can firmly lock in the industry's position through large investments and eliminate other competitors."

Of course, Zhang Lei is very good at calculating accounts, and sometimes he can calculate more clearly than the entrepreneur himself. What he means is probably "money I can afford, but it must be worthwhile to spend it."

In view of the great significance of Gaoling Capital's money for traveling thousands of miles, Lin Yi couldn't hide it any longer.

"Mr. Zhang, the current industry structure is very clear. The reason why Wanli, Dudu, and Kuaidu stand side by side is directly related to the fact that BAT is different from each other."

"However, after experiencing the subsidy war at the beginning of the year, all three companies have realized that continuing such a battle has little effect or even meaninglessness."

"The direction of the next step is also very clear. The industry will face a new round of integration is imperative, and Uber's entry into China will only accelerate this process."

"In fact, Uber's Kalanick once came to us and wanted to hold Wanli Travel, but we rejected it. This can be regarded as some kind of signal."

"Mr. Zhang, you know very well that a snake swallowing an elephant is just a fable. In the real business world, swallowing the big and swallowing the small is the right way to strategize. That's why I just said that traveling thousands of miles has already blocked the industry position."

Zhang Lei looked at him and nodded as if approving, but he still didn't let go: "Lin Yi, according to the investment strategy of Gaoling Capital, I am not in a hurry to get involved in this mess, and I can wait for you to decide the winner." Let’s do it later.”

"I hope you don't mind me saying that, but to me, it doesn't make any difference to me whether you win, or beep, or beep."

Lin Yi thought about it this time, and then continued: "Mr. Zhang, of course I know that with the capital of Gaoling Capital, I can enter this game at any time."

"You say to be a friend of time, I think the key is timing."

"Before the subsidy war, the ride-hailing industry was of course a very early-stage entrepreneurial market, and it was not the target range of Gaoling Capital."

"But after that, it has already reached a considerable scale. This is the confidence we dare to come up with this financing plan this time."

"What I want to say is that now is the time for Gao Ling to make a move. If you continue to wait and see just because the situation is unclear, I think you will miss a lot of benefits."

"I can make it more clear, Mr. Zhang, whether you agree with what I said just now that Wanli Travel is invincible, but at least Gaoling Capital can be invincible."

"In this case, the sooner you earn more, right?"

Zhang Lei showed an expression of appreciation. As an investor, he liked Lin Yi's words very much. Gaoling Capital is invincible.

This may be a judgment, or it may be a promise.

Is there a business in the world that makes money without losing money?

It can't be said, but Zhang Lei does have this self-confidence. No matter whether Lin Yi is talking about it or not in the end, no one can ignore his interests in this industry.

Zhang Lei returned to China to found Gaoling Capital in 2005. This year is 2014. In less than ten years, the world has turned upside down.

He stretched out his hand again: "Congratulations, Lin Yi."

Lin Yi shook hands again and replied: "Congratulations."

……

Although Zhang Lei spent a lot of hard work and words, once he agreed, he immediately verified that it was all worthwhile.

Gaoling Capital is really generous, and the price is 5 million U.S. dollars.

Lin Yi didn't refuse, and he wasn't qualified to refuse. Fortunately, the two sides didn't have much difference in valuation, so the money was finalized.

After getting the good news, Lin Yi didn't take it back to the company to share at the first time, but found his previous financial backer father Xiongchang.

It seems a little too anxious to call the "previous term" now. In short, Li Robin also expressed his welcome, which represents another big step forward in the career of Wanli Travel.

Of course, Xiongchang will also contribute a sum of money as a follow-up investment in this round, but with Gaoling Capital taking the bulk, a slight dilution of equity is unavoidable.

With these two sums of money as a base, the rest is very simple.

Liu Jianni found several interested institutions that they had met and chatted with in the United States before, and the current round of financing of Wanli Travel has already been led by big-name private equity.

This is good news for other people, so that their enthusiasm is even higher, and the amount quoted exceeds the actual needs of traveling thousands of miles. Lin Yi and the others made an allocation after consideration.

The framework was settled, and the procedural matters were not so fast. After all, it was such a large amount of financing. However, under the request of Lin Yi and the coordination of Liu Jianni, they managed to finish it by the end of August.

After the money arrived, Wanli Travel officially announced:

"The company has completed the B round of financing with a total amount of 8 million US dollars, and the post-investment valuation has reached 40 billion US dollars. The leading investor is Gaoling Capital, a well-known investment institution, Xiongchang and other institutions followed up.

The company is grateful to all investors for their concern and support, and will continue to improve products and services, continue to create value for society, and return the trust of shareholders..."

There's a saying that goes, "The less the word, the bigger the matter," and this announcement has that flavor.

When the news was released, Wanli Travel did not take the initiative to contact any media for publicity this time, but it spread throughout the industry almost immediately.

Financing 8 million!

Valuation 40 billion!

After Uber received a new round of financing of US$6 billion at a sky-high valuation of US$170 billion in June this year, which became the highest sum this year, the ride-hailing industry has once again attracted everyone's attention in just two months.

Wanli Travel’s current round of financing has also created many firsts in the field of domestic entrepreneurship and venture capital, and Lin Yi’s favorite number one is this:

"In less than a year since its establishment, the fastest unicorn in history was born, and Pengcheng Wanli is worthy of its name! "

Chapter 455

This news headline is indeed inaccurate.

Pengcheng Wanli was registered as an industrial and commercial entity in July 2013, and it has been more than a year since Lin Yi and the others received the US$7 million in financing.

The article said less than a year, starting from the launch of the first version of the Wanli Travel APP in early September, and it is indeed a few days away.

Of course, this is written to highlight the rapid development and momentum of Wanli Chuxing, a new unicorn. Anyway, Lin Yi did not intend to ask them to correct it because of this "reporting deviation".

Rounding it up, it's about the same.

In short, Lin Yi can still happily accept the title of "the fastest unicorn in history".

You must know that the ideal vision of Internet entrepreneurship was described as "unicorns in three years and Nasdaq in five years".

No matter how you count it, it's only been a fucking year!

Although Uber’s valuation is still several times that of Wanli Chuxing, in addition to being a noble American company and having a significant advantage in scale, Uber was established in 2010 in terms of time.

At that time, Lin Yicai had just returned to this world, and he was still a high school student studying hard.

No matter from which point of view it is evaluated, it is an unprecedented brilliant achievement for Wanli Travel to reach a valuation of US$40 billion.

There has been an extremely optimistic mood in the company recently, because this is good news, so Lin Yi and Liu Jianni did not adopt strict information blocking measures.

Before the official announcement, the company's cadres above the middle level and a small number of well-informed grassroots employees have already spread the word.

These people are basically eligible to take company options, and the rise in the company's valuation directly means that their net worth has skyrocketed.

Liu Jianni even received word that someone was already asking her department about the listing plan of Wanli Travel.

This may be the ultimate dream of a working code farmer. Every time a large-scale Internet company IPOs, it will wholesale a lot of opportunities for wealth and freedom.

For laymen who have no concept of the capital market, judging from the valuation alone, the $40 billion unicorn seems to be eligible to go public.

Of course, Wanli Travel is still far from an IPO.

Lin Yi and the others were sensitive to this trend. If Wanli Travel took the No. [-] position in the industry after the subsidy war and increased the confidence of employees, then this time it can be called blind.

So in this company's internal letter, in addition to routinely thanking all employees for their hard work, he also specifically emphasized:

"Although today's achievements are hard-won, Wanli Travel is still a new company at the start-up stage, and we are still in awe of the market.

If there is an end called success, then there are at least mountains and bumpy journeys between us and it, and the whole company must maintain an entrepreneurial style of hard work, and be mentally prepared to fight big and bad battles..."

In line with the internal rectification presided over by Li Moyan, Wanli Travel once again adopted relatively large-scale team management measures.

The company's personnel expansion is too fast, and there will definitely be people with insufficient talents or morals who are not worthy of virtue. After the subsidy war, Lin Yi has already asked the senior sister to take action.

In the past few months, Wanli Travel itself eliminated a group of incompetent employees, but it did not cause business instability or external concerns, because they recruited more people to replace and supplement.

These are of course not in vain. The cohesion and centripetal force of employees have been improved after a set of combined punches, and the management efficiency and execution ability of the company have also improved.

But what's interesting is that Lin Yi's internal letter mentioned "fighting a big battle, fighting a bad battle" was interpreted by the outside world as preparing to launch an attack on his colleagues.

As the so-called "killing yourself with a sharp weapon", you have just raised US$8 million in financing that far exceeds that of your peers. How long will it take if you don't make a big attack at this time?

In this regard, Lin Yi explained in an interview: "Of course we have a series of promotion plans, especially for the private car business that was just launched this month. refined service.”

"We will continue to invest in the company's original taxi business. Recently, we have built a driver's home in the four first-tier cities of Jingshen, Yangpeng and Peng, serving all online car-hailing drivers, and has received unanimous praise from everyone. "

"We will also launch activities such as red envelope rewards or free ticket offers for passengers from time to time to thank users for their support."

"But it is true that we do not intend to adopt a large-scale subsidy policy again as we did at the beginning of this year. We believe that this kind of measure is unsustainable and does not conform to the law of industry development. The competition between us and our peers should not be done in this way... ..."

Lin Yi's statement disappointed the passengers who were waiting for the second time.

This kind of desire is also human nature. If Lin Yi can communicate with them in private, he may tell them that they don't need to be disappointed too quickly.

Lin Yi has received a lot of interviews during this period, it can be said that there are many interviews, and it is another promotional season for Wanli Travel and himself.

Among them are some so-called celebrity business magazines that sound very high-profile, which are the kind that specialize in ranking lists for selection, such as "Forbes" and "Fortune".

"Forbes" claims to be willing to select him as this year's "Industry Elite Under 30", but Lin Yiyi is not very interested in this title.

Don't think too much about the aggressiveness of these foreign magazines, they rank all kinds of messy lists just to generate income.

Find a few well-known and credible ones to cooperate with the speculation. After the commercial value is obtained, the remaining positions can be "signed up" by those young people who are eager to become famous.

This thing basically has a price tag.

Although he is a showman, some people think that as long as he is not a pure charlatan who can spend such spare money to hype himself, it is more or less a proof of his strength.

After all, it's a business.

Of course, Lin Yi is not the kind who pays to be on the list. With the current performance of Wanli Travel in the industry, he can use it to endorse the credibility of the list.

In order to make this opportunity more attractive, the other party also offered to give him a long character interview, the translation is:

I can help him write soft articles.

Although Lin Yi can brag without changing his expression on the side of investors, he doesn't intend to play up a set of geniuses for himself in the media.

Of course, if he wants to, don't say "six-year-old can program", even if he wants to create a domineering and overbearing president, it is not impossible.

Fortunately, Lin Yi was not very interested in this.

At this time last year, he still tried every means to increase his popularity, but at the current stage of Wanli Travel, he was not very enthusiastic about it.