I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 425 Sima Zhao’s heart is known to everyone

The next day, Fang Qingye arrived at Ele.me and, as scheduled, held a face-to-face meeting with representatives from various investment institutions that were about to invest in Ele.me. Company CEO Zhang Xuhao and CFO Wang Chenyang also participated in the meeting.

The first person I met was a middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in a suit and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, who looked very refined.

The visitor was Neil Shen, founder and partner of Sequoia Capital China.

Upon seeing Shen Nanpeng, Zhang Xuhao immediately greeted him with a smile, "Hello, senior."

"Hello, Xuhao," Shen Nanpeng replied with a smile.

Zhang Xuhao called him "senior" because Shen Nanpeng was also a graduate of Shanghai Jiaotong University.

In China's investment circles, Shen Nanpeng is a very impressive figure. After graduating from Jiaotong University, he went to Yale University in the United States to study and obtained an MBA degree. He then worked for Citibank, Man Brothers Asia, and Deutsche Bank.

He later resigned to start his own business, founding the renowned Ctrip and Home Inns hotel chain. After the company went public, he resolutely left the company he had built from scratch and founded Sequoia China.

The group shook hands, sat on the sofa, and after a few casual words, quickly got down to business.

In fact, Shen Nanpeng had basically reached an agreement with Zhang Xuhao to invest 500 million RMB in Ele.me. It was a purely financial investment and would not involve the company's specific operations. Fang Qingye was quite satisfied with this.

However, today's formal meeting with Fang Qingye was merely a confirmation—it received the approval of Ele.me's top decision-makers.

The rest of the time was mostly spent chatting among friends.

"Chairman Fang, I heard that you also have several holding and investment companies, such as Tomorrow Cube which is engaged in quantitative trading, Dajiang Innovation which is involved in drones, and ByteDance, a comprehensive information platform?" Shen Nanpeng asked with a smile.

"Heh, Mr. Shen, you know quite a lot," Fang Qingye said.

“Xuhao told me all of this, you won’t blame him, will you?” Shen Nanpeng said again.

"How could that be?" Fang Qingye laughed. "They're just small companies. What, Mr. Shen, are you interested?"

"Yes, I founded Sequoia Capital China to discover and nurture innovative and entrepreneurial companies. I am very interested in these three companies of Mr. Fang's. I wonder if they need financing?"

Oh, they've come knocking on our door now?
Historically, Sequoia Capital has made several rounds of investments in both DJI and ByteDance.

Thinking of this, Fang Qingye said, "Tomorrow Cube is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tuofang Technology. I don't plan to raise funds, but Dajiang and ByteDance have already completed their angel rounds. If President Shen is interested, I will contact you if these two companies need Series A funding."

"Then we'll consider this a pre-booking."

"can!"

Seeing that Fang Qingye agreed so readily, Shen Nanpeng was also very happy and stood up to shake hands with Fang Qingye: "It's a deal!"
Fang Qingye had a relatively good impression of Sequoia Capital China and Shen Nanpeng. They invested in many companies, all of which were financial investments without interfering in the companies' specific business operations. In the end, Sequoia Capital China also operated completely independently.

During his stay in Shanghai, Fang Qingye met with one investor each morning and afternoon: Matrix Partners China, GSR Ventures, and Hillhouse Capital.
Some even went through multiple rounds of negotiations before reaching a consensus, with each investing between 2 million and 4 million yuan, and now they have received a total of 12 billion yuan in financing.

We are still short 8 million.

Tomorrow I will meet with the last and most important investor – Alibaba.

After dinner, Fang Qingye was alone in the living room of her villa, looking at the information of the Alibaba representative she would be negotiating with the next day.

The profile was very high – Cai Congxin, then Executive Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alibaba Group, responsible for the Group's strategic investments.

Fang Qingye looked at the materials for a while, then tossed them onto the coffee table and slowly began to drink her tea.

He knows more about this person than the materials suggest.

While Ma Yun and Masayoshi Son have always been the focus of media and public attention regarding Alibaba's development path, there is actually another person—Tsai Tsung-hsin—who has been crucial to Alibaba's success. Tsai Tsung-hsin is Alibaba's "hidden hero." After Ma Yun's retirement, Alibaba experienced a series of major setbacks, and Tsai Tsung-hsin eventually returned to serve as chairman of the board.

From this perspective, this person is of extraordinary significance to Alibaba.

Of course, this happened ten years later. Now, Alibaba is at its peak under Ma Yun's leadership. The fact that such a person could personally negotiate shows how much Alibaba values ​​Ele.me.

Yes, it's important, but excessive importance is a desire for control.

Historically, Alibaba has invested in Ele.me multiple times, from initially joining the board of directors and becoming a shareholder, to later becoming the largest shareholder and even gaining veto power, until finally acquiring Ele.me and making it a complete part of the Alibaba ecosystem.

Others might not see it, but as someone who has been reborn, I can't help but be wary of Alibaba's strategy.

Sima Zhao's intentions are obvious to everyone.

I wonder how Wang Chenyang's contact with Tencent went?
Two days ago, Wang Chenyang took a day off and secretly went to Shenzhen, where he met Lin Haifeng, then vice president of Tencent, who was in charge of investment, mergers and acquisitions and fintech.

I don't know what the outcome of the news was.

Fang Qingye wants to know Tencent's attitude as they are negotiating with Alibaba tomorrow.

Should I call Wang Chenyang?

As Fang Qingye was thinking, her phone suddenly rang. She saw that it was Wang Chenyang calling and immediately answered.

"Mr. Fang, I just got off the plane not long ago," Wang Chenyang said.

"You've worked hard. How did it go?" Fang Qingye asked.

"It's a long story, I'm taking a taxi to your villa right now."

"Ok, I will wait for you."

Almost an hour later, Fang Qingye heard the doorbell ring at the front gate. When she went to open the door, she saw Wang Chenyang standing at the door, looking travel-worn, carrying a suitcase.

"I'm so sorry you didn't even get to go home," Fang Qingye said apologetically, helping to carry the suitcase.

"It's nothing, I'll go back after I'm done with my work."

The two entered the living room, where Wang Chenyang explained in detail how he met Lin Haifeng.

"Lin Haifeng's attitude is ambiguous. I feel that he is not very interested in Ele.me. Tencent's current interest is in the entertainment industry, including games, film and television, such as Huayi Brothers and Tencent Video. Moreover, I heard that it recently acquired two mobile phone design companies."

"Tencent wants to make mobile phones?" Fang Qingye was surprised; this was the first time he had heard of it.

"That's perfectly normal, isn't it?" Wang Chenyang said with a smile.

"Currently, many internet companies are venturing into the mobile phone field. Xiaomi adopts a software + hardware + internet triathlon model; Alibaba Cloud OS has partnered with Tianyu and Haier; Baidu has partnered with Dell and Changhong; 360 adopts a special supply model, cooperating with mobile phone manufacturers to create an open platform for mobile phones; Shanda Bambook is involved in hardware, so it is not surprising that Tencent is going to make mobile phones."

is it?

However, Fang Qingye knew that Tencent ultimately did not make mobile phones, but this was not a topic he cared about or debated.

"Will Lin Haifeng agree to let Ele.me integrate with WeChat to gain traffic?" This is the question that Fang Qingye is most concerned about.

(End of this chapter)