As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 23 IDG Capital and CMB International

If you want to survive in the investment field, a keen sense of smell, quick actions and accurate judgment are indispensable. Good investment projects can be intercepted by others the day before signing the contract.

Not to mention projects like Ke Chuang Bio, which have high certainty and bright prospects. After reading the Phase I clinical report of endorphin, investors had only one thought in their minds: I want to grab this project.

Cheng Gang said helplessly: "You have done research on Kechuang Biotechnology and you should know that President Zheng is a person who is dedicated to research. After the Phase I clinical trial report came out, President Lei came to Suzhou for inspection and asked to have dinner with President Zheng."

"They all had their meals in our company cafeteria. After they finished eating, they chatted for less than 20 minutes and then Director Zheng went back to work in the laboratory."

"Director Zheng spends more than fourteen hours in the lab every day and has no time to go out for meals."

"The boss is even more hardworking than his employees. I am ashamed of myself. The first thing Mr. Lei and Mr. Zheng said to me after dinner was: If people like this don't succeed, who can?"

“The second sentence is: The most terrifying thing is that people who are more talented than you work harder than you.”

Stephanie said with emotion: "You have to believe in Goldman Sachs' research capabilities. All of this is written in our investigation report. We want to invest in Kechuang Biotechnology not only for the endorphins."

"More importantly, I want to invest in Zheng Li as a person. He is a top scientific research genius with unparalleled hard work. In addition, he is still so young. Zheng Li can at least support the development of Kechuang Biotechnology for the next 30 years."

"I would love to come to your company to have a meal and chat with Mr. Zheng."

Cheng Gang replied: "Sorry, the first person who called was Young from IDG. Mr. Zheng really doesn't want to see anyone."

IDG's Young Guo, who graduated from the Department of Applied Chemistry at Shenhai Jiaotong University and received a Ph.D. in polymer chemical engineering from Massachusetts State University, was the first outside investor to realize the value of Zheng Li.

When Kechuang Bio was first established, Young expressed his desire to participate in the first round of venture capital, but at that time neither Zheng Li nor Lei Jun had the intention to increase capital or expand shares.

“However, we will hold a sharing session later, when we have new research results to announce and we will discuss the details of the second round of investment.”

“The sharing session should be in these two days.”

On a sunny afternoon in June in Suzhou, many investors gathered in the open conference room of Kechuang Biotechnology. Kechuang Biotechnology only sent invitations to top domestic investment institutions.

The investors had already engaged in a verbal confrontation before the sharing session began.

"Hongbo, when will CMB International invest in biopharmaceutical companies?"

"I'm afraid that the investment philosophy of Kechuang Biotechnology is not in line with your CMB International?" Young of IDG Capital said to Wang Hongbo of CMB International during a casual chat.

In addition to foreign capitals such as IDG Capital, Sequoia, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan, venture capital institutions active in China also include venture capital departments established by domestic first-tier banks such as Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and China Merchants Bank.

These banks generally established their own venture capital departments around 2011.

Wang Hongbo chuckled and said, "That's not the case. CMB once led the investment in Kangtai Biological and helped Kangtai Biological successfully list on the Growth Enterprise Market. We have always been committed to investing in outstanding innovative companies in China and growing together with them."

Young thought, everyone knows each other, why are they pretending? "I think Kangtai Biological is the only biopharmaceutical company that CMB International has invested in over the years, right?"

"The last time CMB International invested in Kangtai Biological was in 2015, and then Kangtai Biological was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market in 2017. I'm afraid you and I are both very clear about the specific purpose of CMB International's investment in Kangtai Biological." "Science and Technology Innovation Biotechnology will not be listed so soon. Can CMB International bear the loneliness?"

Wang Hongbo sneered and said, "You don't need to worry about this. We plan to deeply participate in venture capital in the biopharmaceutical industry from this year. We are very optimistic about companies related to the localization of biopharmaceuticals."

Little-known fact: CMB International invested in Kangtai Biological in 2015 and has never invested in the biopharmaceutical industry since then. However, in 2020 and 2021, it invested in five biopharmaceutical companies in one go.

The reason is very simple. After the trade war in 18, the country proposed the requirement of domestically produced equipment replacing foreign equipment in the back-end of financial institutions, which is the so-called "de-IOE", and proposed that domestic equipment should account for at least % of the back-end equipment of financial institutions.

Following the same logic, the biopharmaceutical industry also needs to achieve the top-level will of domestic substitution for imports, so pharmaceutical stocks and pharmaceutical-related venture capital began to rise.

Young: "CMB Capital can only help Sinovation Biotech with capital operations, but IDG Capital can help Sinovation Biotech in all aspects. Our investment experience in the biopharmaceutical industry is unmatched by CMB International."

Before 2020, IDG Capital's investment experience in the biopharmaceutical industry was indeed much richer than that of CMB International. They began investing in biopharmaceutical companies in 1996.

Among them, the most popular stock recently, iHealth's Series A venture capital in 2007 was led by IDG Capital.

Also, don’t think that the investment industry is so high-end. When a really good project appears, they will use any dirty tricks as long as they are effective.

Wang Hongbo: "If we only look at industry investment experience, then I think there is no need for Sinovation Biotech to send invitation letters to venture capital firms from banks."

"Why not just send it directly to Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and IDG?"

"Lao Guo, relax. Your competitors are not me. Your competitors are Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. My competitors are companies like Bocom International, CCB International, China Venture Capital, and CICC."

"High-quality companies like Kechuang Biotechnology will definitely not introduce all foreign capital."

Young Guo replied: “I’m just curious. Logically, CMB International would not invest in a company of this nature.”

"What you said makes sense, but according to my information, the final decision lies with Director Zheng, and he has not met with representatives of any investment institution."

“Now everyone is on the same starting line.”

"When I saw Mr. Zheng's resume, I was impressed that there are really geniuses in this world. In the second round of venture capital, we increased the valuation of Kechuang Biotechnology by at least ten times, to 50 billion RMB."

"Mr. Zheng is only 18 years old and his net worth is already over 4 billion RMB. When I was 18, I was still doing test tubes in Shenhai."

Wang Hongbo: "People are different. Our understanding of Zheng Li is that he is a top scientific research talent."

"But I think he is not only gifted in scientific research ability, but also in decision-making and judgment. After publishing the Nature article, he chose to drop out of school to start a business. He only met Lei Jun once and got 50 million in venture capital for his business."

"Every step after getting the venture capital was just right."

"I can't help but sigh that the world will eventually belong to the young."

(End of this chapter)