As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 115 Brain-Computer Connection VR (4000-in- words)
"What is the progress of Ke Chuang Future's brain-computer connected VR?" asked Li Miaomiao.

The subordinate reported in a serious tone: "The first generation of brain-computer connection VR has been finalized, and Tencent and Ali have taken the prototype to carry out corresponding software design."

"As for games that connect brain-computer interfaces to VR devices, Tencent's previous designs were overturned internally."

Since the launch of Ke Chuang Bio's brain-computer connection technology, it has only been used on mobile phones. The subsequent brain-computer connection prosthetics have more demonstration significance than practical significance.

There has been internal discussion that brain-computer connection should be combined with VR. Lei Jun visited Cheng Gang several times to communicate and expressed the hope that Ke Chuang Biotechnology would optimize brain-computer connection for VR, and then Dami and Ke Chuang Biotechnology would work together to create a groundbreaking brain-computer connection VR device.

Cheng Gang has been having troubles since June. IDG has assigned him two biopharmaceutical companies that specialize in mRNA vaccines.

Cheng Gang founded an angel investment company that focuses on the biomedicine field. After conducting preliminary background checks on the two projects introduced by IDG, they unanimously felt that they were high-quality projects.

Both Abogen and Smibio are leading companies in the mRNA field in China, and their technical and certain backgrounds are quite impressive.

After learning the situation in detail, Cheng Gang agreed to invest and invested 20 million RMB in each of the two companies.

Cheng Gang didn't expect Siwei Bio and Abogen to defeat foreign pharmaceutical giants. They just wanted to take over the domestic market.

The goal is to get a high valuation on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. In the past two years, the valuation of companies in the biopharmaceutical field in China has been hundreds of times the PE.

As the general manager of a leading enterprise on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, Cheng Gang can also play a certain role in assisting other enterprises to pass the review on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.

However, man proposes, God disposes. With the assistance of Simmons, Pfizer of America was the first to develop an effective drug.

Simmons has a magic brain, and with his help Pfizer's progress has increased dozens of times.

Once the special medicine came out, the previous investment of domestic mRNA companies completely became silent costs, and the valuation dropped by at least half.

Because your previous technical routes were all aimed at the mutated strains of Covid, and now that there are specific drugs, your technical accumulation and data are no longer valuable.

SiBio and CyberBio need to be fundamentally revalued. Their only valuable features are their technical framework and technical personnel.

Market valuations have been cut by more than half, to at least one-third of what they were before.

Some people say that if Pfizer's special medicine cannot be approved, it will not be able to enter China, so the mRNA vaccine development route is still valuable.

But there is a crucial issue. Pfizer has proven that its technology route is correct. Even if China does not allow Pfizer to come in, it will definitely develop its own special medicine along Pfizer's R&D route.

Instead of taking the mRNA vaccine route that no one has taken.

I thought that if I bet on both sides, I could at least get one side. But in the end, I got nothing.

Cheng Gang’s investment has a paper loss of more than 20 million yuan. If there is no fundamental change in the industry logic, it will be a long time before he can get his investment back.

Cheng Gang was a little dazed for a while. As a veteran in the industry, he was hit hard. He thought that betting on both sides would be a sure win, and the return on the market would be dozens of times or even dozens of times.

As a result, his angel investment company encountered setbacks and had only enough liquidity to invest in one project.

However, since he focused part of his energy on his own investment company, he made mistakes in his work.

Zheng Li used this as an excuse to assign some of his responsibilities to Li Miaomiao.

Lei Jun talked to Cheng Gang about brain-computer connection VR. Cheng Gang naturally strongly supported it. He was also optimistic about this direction and hoped that this project would help him regain Zheng Li's trust.

"The operation mode of mainstream VR devices is still too cumbersome and not very smart," Lei Jun said. "Brain-computer connection can completely solve this problem."

2021 is hailed by the industry as the first year of the Metaverse, and ByteDance, as a new Internet giant, has also invested in the Metaverse project.

Unlike FB's big fanfare, with its name change and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's various announcements, ByteDance is making big moves with almost no publicity.

It's about doing, not talking.

Byte acquired a company specializing in VR equipment in 2021. The company's hit product Pico Neo 2021 ranked second in global sales in 3.

But even the latest VR device, pico neo3, which was launched in May 21, is still operated by buttons.

The buttons on the handle and the VR helmet can also provide some auxiliary control, but it still looks bulky.

When smartphones evolved from the earliest button-based ones to virtual buttons and then to the current brain-computer connection, the control methods of VR devices have progressed too slowly compared to smartphones.

Cheng Gang agreed: "We have always considered brain-computer connection VR, but VR devices are a completely new field for Kechuang Bio."

"We are more of a technology licensing company. If we want to make hardware, whether it is supply chain technology integration or large-scale production and sales, it will be a very big challenge for Kechuang Biotechnology."

The supply chain production of biomedicine and digital products is completely different. You can say that they are essentially the same, but there are too many differences in specific operations.

VR devices are particularly heavy digital products, and a VR device involves many components. Headphones, mice, and keyboards are relatively light digital products, and the production chain is very short.

When Lei Jun heard this, he was secretly delighted. It’s good that Ke Chuang Bio doesn’t understand. If you did, there would be no need for rice.

"We can definitely cooperate. Kechuang Biotechnology has technology in brain-computer connection, and Dami has rich experience in the digital product supply chain. We can achieve very good complementary effects."

"At the same time, Da Mi is a long-term partner of Sino-Bio and one of its shareholders. We have a solid foundation of mutual trust."

"You and I have been colleagues for many years, and we are also old acquaintances and partners of your CEO Zheng. We can definitely cooperate well in the field of brain-computer connection VR."

Cheng Gang thought the same: "We will first form a report internally and then report it to Chairman Zheng. The specific resolution needs to be approved by the board of directors."

Lei Jun: "We can reach cooperation by establishing a joint venture. Kechuang Biotechnology will invest in the company through technology patents and capital, and DaMi will also invest in the company through technology patents and capital."

It is a very common means of cooperation between listed companies by jointly establishing new subsidiaries.

New energy has been very popular in the past two years, and many upstream and downstream companies in the new energy industry chain have cooperated by establishing joint ventures.

Like the recent Yunnan Yuntianhua, Enjie Co., Ltd., Yiwei Lithium Energy and Huayou Cobalt, which jointly invested 517 billion RMB to build a new energy industry chain, they cooperated by establishing two joint ventures.

After the internal research report of Kechuang Bio was submitted, Zheng Li asked Li Miaomiao during a casual chat: "What do you think of the cooperation method reported by the company recently? We are working with Dami to build brain-computer connection VR."

Li Miaomiao looked at Zheng Li on the screen and felt a little annoyed because Zheng Li would always talk about work. She didn't want to just talk about work:
"Is our brain-computer connection technology mature for application in VR?" Zheng Li thought for a moment and said, "Absolutely no problem. There is no essential difference between using brain-computer connection to control mobile phones and VR devices."

"VR is also easier to control. We can achieve more precise control and have richer functions."

“Because VR and human eyes are connected in a confined space, more precise control can be achieved through eye capture technology.”

"At the same time, VR devices can set more abundant neural points and capture more brain nerve signals, which can achieve better results."

“It’s just that the technology needs to be modified to a certain extent, but the modification process will not be complicated.”

Li Miaomiao was very direct: "If it weren't for the long-term cooperation between Lei Jun and us, there would be no need to consider rice in our cooperation."

"Only Kechuang Biotechnology can provide brain-computer connection technology, but there are many companies that can provide VR-related technology industry chain integration."

"When we propose cooperation, whether it's OV, Samsung, or even Apple, they will agree."

"If we really want to make the best product in one go, then working with Apple is the best way. The premium that Apple's products can enjoy is unmatched by other manufacturers."

The product premium here refers to that no matter how high the price of Apple's products is, there will be consumers who will buy them. For example, a polishing cloth launched by Apple can be sold for 145 RMB, and it is still in short supply.

Apple can sell at high prices, so every component of its products can be made of the best. Consumers pay for it anyway, so it doesn't have to skimp on suppliers like other mobile phone manufacturers do.

Therefore, the Apple supply chain is what these mobile phone suppliers most want to join. For the same components, the profit from supplying them to Apple is much higher than that from supplying them to Xiaomi.

"If we work with Apple, we will have a real chance to create a groundbreaking VR device and kick off the VR craze."

"All the user groups that were previously cultivated by VR devices will become our nutrients."

Li Miaomiao paused and said, "But this is a way to maximize profits. Personally, I would rather cooperate with Chinese manufacturers."

"Rather than splitting the profits with Apple, I would rather cultivate upstream and downstream companies in China's VR industry chain."

"For example, when cooperating with Apple, Chinese companies can only get a small part of this industrial chain, and a lot of it will be distributed to other countries."

"When we cooperate with Da Mi, the profits, employment and capital flows brought by the industrial chain will remain entirely in China."

"And we can dominate by cooperating with rice, but we may not be able to dominate by cooperating with Apple."

"So whether it's cooperating with rice or apples, there are pros and cons."

Zheng Li interrupted: "Who do you want to cooperate with?"

Li Miaomiao: "Da Mi, but if we want to talk, we can choose from more than just Da Mi."

Zheng Li: "I also think we can cooperate with Rice. There is another risk in cooperating with Apple, which is the leakage of technology patents."

"They can't steal our technology patents during the cooperation process, but our R&D route and logic will inevitably be leaked to a certain extent."

Li Miaomiao added: "So we can leak the news. This is called Jiang Taigong fishing, and those who are willing will take the bait."

"Although I feel a little sorry for you, but business is like a battlefield after all."

Ke Chuang Biotechnology plans to enter the VR field. After the news of combining VR with brain-computer connection spread in the industry, it was unexpected that the first company to come to the door was not Xiaomi or OV.

The first company to come to us was Tencent.

Ren Yu, president of Tencent's interactive entertainment business group, personally led a team to visit us.

When mobile Internet emerged, Tencent was the first among the three giants BAT at the time to get a ticket to the mobile Internet thanks to WeChat.

However, Qiandu has not yet secured a ticket to the mobile Internet, and its performance is getting worse day by day.

The market value is the best indicator of a company's development. At this time, Qiandu's market value is only HKD 450 billion.

ByteDance’s valuation is 2.2 trillion, Meituan’s market value, which is also listed on the Hong Kong stock market, is 1.1 trillion HKD, and JD.com’s Hong Kong stock market value is 9000 billion HKD.

Ant Group, which was incubated internally by Ali, was valued at 2 trillion RMB before something happened. Now that its value has been cut in half and then by another 7000%, its valuation is still billion RMB.

Qiandu has fallen behind not only among BAT, but also among the second-tier Internet giants.

Seeing the miserable end of Baidu, Tencent hopes to seize every opportunity, so their investment is the best among Internet giants.

Tencent is very keenly aware that the brain-computer connected VR that Ke Chuang Bio is developing is likely to be the direction of the next Internet revolution, or at least a new high-quality track.

The track means new profits, new businesses, and new industrial models will emerge.

Therefore, Tencent attached great importance to this cooperation, and Ren Yu was the one who took part in the first negotiation.

Ren Yu has worked at Tencent for more than 2012 years and has served as its Chief Operating Officer since . He is now the Chief Operating Officer and also the President of the Platform and Content Business Group and the Interactive Entertainment Business Group.

"Mr. Cheng, we meet again. When Sinovation Biotech invested in its B round, I was very optimistic about it. At that time, I repeatedly emphasized to Li Zhaohui that we must participate in the B round of investment in Sinovation Biotech at all costs."

"Unfortunately, Kechuang Biopharma is even more popular than we estimated internally, so we can only watch other institutions participate in the B round of investment with great pain."

"But fortunately, it's never too late to cooperate. Recently, I heard that Sinovation Biotechnology is going to make VR devices with brain-computer connection. I wonder if Tencent will have the honor to cooperate with Sinovation Biotechnology to jointly open up a new track and achieve a great cause!"

People in the Internet industry like to talk about tracks the most. They invest in all the leading companies in the track at the same time. No matter who comes out on top in the end, investors will make money.

The insect breeding farm is euphemistically called a racetrack.

Cheng Gang performed a set of Tai Chi: "Brain-computer connection VR is just our internal research. As for whether it will really be implemented, it still needs internal research to decide."

"There is almost no overlap between Tencent and our previous industries, so there were no good opportunities for cooperation in the past."

"If Kechuang Biotech really wants to develop brain-computer VR in the future, it will definitely rely on Tencent's rich software ecosystem."

Thanks to book friends 20201222095310546 and 丿落木萧萧 for their rewards!
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(End of this chapter)