What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 458 Giveaway
Yu Kai's enthusiasm has been somewhat dimmed by the current situation.

In addition, he felt that Mr. Yu's "should" needed more consideration.

I've never heard of Mr. Yu being a stock market savvy investor, although he must know a lot about internet companies like Alibaba...

After much deliberation, Yu Kai made a very reasonable request before the arrival of the second batch of five venture capitalists: he wanted to see Mr. Yu's stock trading account.

Yu Xing spread his hands: "I don't have any accounts, and I don't trade stocks. Dr. Yu, I'm just making a suggestion. If we really don't raise enough money this year, it just means that neither our research capabilities nor our research environment are mature enough. We can always try to develop later."

He genuinely felt this was a good opportunity to bring them together and was willing to take action, but he was also open to accepting if the outcome was unsatisfactory.

Upon hearing this, Yu Kai was unwilling to let the matter rest and fully expressed his doubts: "President Yu, something's not right. I'm bringing people here, but they're making them pay for their own work..."

“Dr. Yu, look at my Silicon Carbon Group. I poured almost all the money from selling WeChat into it before investors came in,” Yu Xing said with a smile. “The leader can contribute technology or capital. It depends on everyone’s willingness to do this together. If it works, great; if not, so be it. Silicon Carbon is currently acting as an investor.”

He asked, "So, from an investor's perspective, if you yourselves are unwilling to put in your own money, how can others have the confidence to join in, even if it's a small amount?"

Yu Kai found it difficult to answer this question.

At the same time, this question also seems to be directed at his own "Horizon" project.

In the end, he could only sigh, "Raising funds is not as simple as I thought."

Ultimately, Yu Kai easily gained President Yu's support and thought he could achieve his goal smoothly. However, he didn't expect that the person who was paying for the money was so stingy. But then he thought about it and realized that he was no different when he was the one paying for the money.

The second round of venture capital talks also ended in failure.

Lingang continues to invite investors as usual, showing no signs of being affected by the complete failure of the ten venture capital firms. However, Yu Kai has stopped calling on friends and acquaintances in the machine learning circle.

After doing the math, he realized he had been rejected eleven times in a row, and he was starting to feel numb.

However, the news of this grand event spread slowly. While Yu Kai was being crushed by capital, the Chinese academic community in machine learning had already been ignited with enthusiasm, and they inquired about each other's situations and made plans to come to Hong Kong together.

By the time another group of investors arrived, the academics were basically all present.

The two groups of people were in two adjacent offices.

To the east are five investment institutions: China Renaissance, ZhenFund, Tongchuang, Wuyuan Capital, and Puhua Capital.

To the west are Liu Tieyan from Microsoft Research, Zhu Junyan from MIT, He Kaiming from Facebook AI Research, and Chen Tianqi, representing the DMLC community.

Yu Kai was in a lot of pain because of this. On the east, he was suffering setbacks in the capital market, and on the west, there was a heated discussion.

Both sides are very pure!

One is too business-oriented, and the other is too academic!
Two days later, Yu Xing suddenly received a call from Zhu Zehui, the deputy director of Lingang. He thought the other party was asking about the progress of the carbon silicon group's tram project again, but the other party pretended to criticize him and joked that he had done something big but did not report it.

"Director, I'm a little confused." Yu Xing was quite surprised. If there was anything important, it was indeed a major event that a mountain peak was about to hit the racing industry.

"Your Machine Learning and General Artificial Intelligence Conference has been successfully held, why didn't you say anything?" Zhu Zehui first scolded, then became enthusiastic, "It's not over yet, is it? We from Lingang should go and report on it."

Yu Xing repeated the meeting name in his mind, already knowing what it was about.

He was somewhat amused and exasperated; the money over there was still nowhere in sight, yet the name sounded quite grand.

Yu Xing briefly explained the situation, then a thought suddenly struck him: there must be an antidote within ten steps.

Silicon Carbon Group and Silicon Carbon Data attract investors proactively, which goes without saying from Lingang. However, the Deep Learning Foundation (DLF) needs a push, and it would be perfect to approach them for projects that clearly require long-term investment.

Although we don't know when things will start moving, spending this money here is a worthwhile endeavor.

He had the idea in mind, and his explanation became more scientific. He even mentioned the importance that global technology giants attach to this area. Most importantly, he said that this project would attract many top Chinese scholars back to China.

Zhu Zehui listened more and more attentively and asked the question Yu Xing most wanted to hear: "This meeting is of great significance, President Yu. If there is anything we can help with, please let the district know."

Without a second's hesitation, Yu Xing said, "It's just one favor. They're short of money right now. I've helped bring together a group of investors, but fundraising is still quite difficult. Dr. Yu Kai has been working tirelessly on this, hoping to promote the development of this sector in China and also hoping to attract more top scientists back."

Zhu Zehui was quite used to President Yu's straightforward style.

After thinking for a while, he said, "Then let the city take the lead. Such a meeting can be sponsored by Shanghai."

Yu Xing thanked Director Zhu and sincerely hoped that he could continue to advance his career.

After the call ended, he immediately contacted Yu Kai to inquire about the so-called meeting.

Yu Kai looked worried: "Sigh, everyone is so enthusiastic. They've started planning things out as we talk, and they've shared the news on Facebook and Twitter. Some have even started working on their papers..."

He lamented, "Financing here is still slow. These researchers have no idea how difficult it is to run a business."

Yu Xing glanced at him sideways: "You found out again?"

Yu Kai nodded solemnly: "Now I know a little bit about it."

He now represents the DLF Foundation in meetings with investment institutions, but besides discussing this, he also talks about what his Horizon Robotics company wants to do, and almost unsurprisingly, he remains quite indifferent.

Yu Kai has now figured out some of the investors' thoughts. Apart from giving face to President Yu, they also came with the intention of attending a class to broaden their horizons. They were polite throughout the entire trip, and then nothing happened.

The more enthusiastic the academic community is, the greater the pressure he feels on his shoulders.

He could sense that everyone was genuinely willing to give up or even sacrifice their personal interests. For example, Liu Tieyan, the chief researcher at Microsoft Research, readily agreed to join, and the job also had a very promising future.

Looking at Dr. Yu's expression, Yu Xing smiled and mentioned that the city would be coming to make contact, finally giving some good news after all this time.

Upon hearing this, Yu Kai finally perked up a bit, and with a smile, he finished recounting the proceedings of the makeshift meeting.

Although funding is not yet available, everyone has spontaneously discussed and identified four directions for the current stage: computer vision, natural language processing, generative models, and deep learning frameworks.

This emphasis on promoting the transformation from laboratory algorithms to industrial-grade tools, and from single-task optimization to the exploration of general paradigms, combines the direction of the most cutting-edge international research at present.

"Mr. Yu, we've also discussed the operation of this foundation." Yu Kai finally brought up the organizational structure. "The committee that decides the direction of the foundation includes myself, Zhu Junyan from MIT, who works on generative models, He Kaiming from Facebook, who works on computer vision, Chen Tianqi, who leads the DMLC community, and you." "Chen Tianqi can be responsible for some of the foundation's daily operations; he has some experience in building communities."

Yu Xing chuckled: "Why am I included? You've already arranged the positions. Wait a minute, didn't you just say you came up with four research directions? What about natural language processing? Doesn't anyone represent that?"

Yu Kai was surprised that President Yu was actually listening attentively.

He explained, “I wanted Liu Tieyan to be a committee member, since he specializes in natural language processing, but he didn’t want to, so I took the position first. Also, Microsoft has another vice president of their research institute, Zhou Ming, who is more skilled in this area. He didn’t come this time, but he sent his best wishes from afar.”

Yu Kai thought to himself, "If we can persuade Zhou Ming, then let him be a committee member. President Yu, you have to have a position. You're the big spender, you're the one who helps raise money. Others can do without it, but you can't do without it!"

Yu Xing didn't refuse, but just smiled and reminded him, "It's fine, everything is fine, except for the lack of money."

Yu Kai's face darkened, and he brought up President Yu's suggestion again.

"Mr. Yu, since you think you can make money by investing in stocks, and Alibaba isn't listed yet, what do you think of other listed companies? Aren't those that are already listed and have good performance more reliable?"

Yu Xing pondered for a moment: "Well, Dr. Yu, when I look at listed companies, I actually focus on their failures rather than their successes. The reason I recommended Alibaba is because I've dealt with them frequently over the years, so I'm confident in their abilities. If you're interested, cryptocurrency is also a good option, but it might require a longer holding period."

Yu Kai wasn't surprised; Alibaba's Ma Chuan also started by pointing out failures. But he resolutely rejected cryptocurrency: "Cryptocurrency won't do; the volatility is too high!"

He had also read some news about cryptocurrencies.

Yu Kai then asked, "What about Baidu and Tencent? Are they not suitable either?"

"Let's rule out Baidu first. As for Tencent, it's not as good as it used to be, but I still maintain that it's definitely fine in the long run. The domestic market will continue to deliver the benefits of mobile technology." Yu Xing shared earnestly, "I would recommend Alibaba first because its story is so easy to tell now, and it's also easy for investors in the US stock market to compare and agree with it."

Yu Kai glanced at President Yu and lowered his voice to ask, "President Yu, where is Bai Xiaosheng? Does Bai Xiaosheng have any good news?"

Yu Xing immediately replied seriously, "Dr. Yu, you must not go astray; insider trading is unacceptable."

Yu Kai sighed: "President Yu, it's hard to say whether this is a case of raising funds at lightning speed or going bankrupt at lightning speed."

"Just don't use leverage," Yu Xing said dismissively. "If you buy Alibaba stock, even if it doesn't make a profit, it won't lose much. Are you worried that it will suddenly plummet by half? What are you thinking? This is already a very safe path."

Yu Kai thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "What if? What if they come from the mountains to short Alibaba?"

Yu Xing offered the most reliable assurance: "That's even more impossible; Guoshanfeng would never come over to short sell."

Yu Kai didn't ask why; he just suddenly thought of this.

He shook his head and pondered, "Then I'll ask a few committee members what they think and see if they're willing to raise funds and take shares in addition to technology. Hmm... the city has money. How about this, Mr. Yu, you can tell the leaders that our DLF can establish stable cooperation with universities, provide research funding for relevant fields in universities, and then have universities send one or two outstanding students to intern here every year."

“Universities have limited research funding, and students there usually struggle. Foundations can provide research that starts in the summer, so students can work on their papers in September or October, submit them in November, and if they are accepted the following year, they can attend conferences. This can be considered a way for universities to cultivate talent.”

Yu Xing exclaimed in surprise, "Dr. Yu, how come you are so familiar with this?"

“Hey, these are all things we’ve done in Silicon Valley. That’s how NEC Lab was developed back then. It’s actually mutually beneficial. People like Yang Jianchao from USTC and Zhou Xi, who were my interns back then, are all very successful now,” Yu Kai said. “Our system has been proven.”

Yu Xing wrote it down, planning to try to persuade them again.

Regardless, there has been some progress. If they decide to raise funds to invest in stocks, Alibaba's stock might surge and double, and the funding problem would be solved immediately.

Yu Kai felt somewhat relieved.

“Dr. Yu, I think your work plan is very good.” Yu Xing smiled and made a request from silicon carbide, “Since everyone is so enthusiastic, and we’re in the fundraising stage anyway, could we check out the product?”

Yu Kai asked, puzzled, "How do we test it?"

"The silicon carbon group's vehicle infotainment system needs more effective voice recognition, and we're currently lagging behind in this area," Yu Xing said. "Could you, a group of great scientists, give us a try and lend a hand?"

Yu Kai was taken aback, then, after a moment's thought, said, "Mr. Yu, you haven't even paid the money yet, and you're already thinking about taking the stuff back?"

He agreed: "Okay, consider it a small assignment for this meeting."

Yu Xing was secretly pleased. Although he hadn't proposed any groundbreaking research, he still believed that these top experts could be of assistance.

Domestic investors continue to flock to Hong Kong, although most are not interested. However, some are sending optimistic signals as the investment pools are being cast wide, and Hillhouse Capital is willing to make further contact.

Not only for DLF, but also with a big appetite, they are willing to actively participate in the financing of Horizon Robotics, Silicon Carbon Group and Silicon Carbon Data.

Yu Kai was very surprised by this and asked President Yu where it came from.

“Your two are money-losing assets, while my two are money-making assets.” Yu Xing wasn’t surprised at all, and said calmly, “He came to invest in me and brought your freebies along.”

Yu Kai felt a little embarrassed, but then he thought, what's wrong with being a free gift?
His mood turned positive: "Mr. Yu, could you please find more organizations that are desperately wanting to invest in you? Please!"

Yu Xing: "..."

He felt that Dr. Yu's entrepreneurial path would be very good, and that he would at least grow thick-skinned quickly.

However, both Silicon Carbon Group and Silicon Carbon Data are planning to significantly expand their next round of financing, requiring them to reach out to more investment institutions. Being able to bring them along this time would be a win-win situation.

Yu Xing was pondering how to accept the goodwill of more investors when he suddenly received a call from Xing Hongyu, who was working hard in the United States.

"President Yu, Tencent's Weishi team has been disbanded!" Xing Hongyu's voice was excited.

Yu Xing laughed and said, "You're in America, yet you seem to know everything about what's happening here. I've never heard of this."

“I still have friends here, or to be precise, they’ve been completely absorbed by WeChat,” Xing Hongyu encouraged. “But many of them are considering leaving. Those core members don’t have non-compete agreements, so we can poach them from Carbon Silicon Data. They just can’t work on Mus first. However, if we bring them in, they can get up to speed quickly when the domestic market takes off.”

Yu Xing accepted Xing Hongyu's concern for his former employer, asking him to draft a list so that Bai Xiaosheng could make contact with them.

WeiChat has absorbed WeiShi, and from the person in charge to the backbone, they are now truly putting the orthodox spirit into Lingang.

(End of this chapter)