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

Chapter 561, Section 560: "In short: If you win, everything is fine; if you lose, there is no hope of redemption!"

Oh, they really came?
Historically, Dianping did invest in Ele.me, but later colluded with Meituan and betrayed Ele.me at a crucial moment.

"Who is the person from Dianping? What did he say?" Fang Qingye asked calmly.

"Their COO, Lü Guangyu, said that Dianping can not only invest in Ele.me, but also have a strategic partnership with Ele.me, with complementary businesses and data sharing, but it must have a position on the board of directors."

"Do Zhang Xuhao and the others know about this?" Fang Qingye asked.

"You only contacted me today, I wanted to give it to you first," Wang Chenyang said on the other end of the phone.

"Tell them, they'll find out about something this big sooner or later. Maybe Lü Guangyu has already called Zhang Xuhao."

"Okay, I'll report to General Manager Zhang as soon as I get to work tomorrow. Chairman Fang, what are your thoughts on Dianping's investment in Ele.me?"

"That's great! Welcome!" Fang Qingye said with a smile.

"Huh? You told me a while ago to be wary of Dianping and prevent them from disrupting the market. I thought you would object." Wang Chenyang was a little surprised.

"If Dianping really does form a strategic partnership with us, data sharing would be a huge boost for Ele.me. So what if we give him a board position? He can't cause any major upheavals. We just need to prevent him from causing trouble or backstabbing us," Fang Qingye explained patiently.

"You mean Dianping might be colluding with Meituan?" Wang Chenyang immediately understood what Fang Qingye meant.

"It's possible that we're in an era where the winner takes all. If Ele.me consistently falls behind Meituan in the competition, there's a high possibility that Dianping might turn against us."

"In short: if you win, everything is fine; if you lose, there is no hope of redemption!"

"I understand."

In early November, Ele.me's shareholders' meeting unanimously approved the report proposed by Ele.me's board of directors to raise another 3 billion yuan.

Immediately, a number of domestic and foreign institutions invested, including Topway Technology, Sequoia China, JD.com, and IDG Capital. Of particular note was the sudden entry of Dianping, which invested 5.4 million RMB. The two companies announced a high-profile strategic agreement to share merchant data and platform traffic in the food delivery sector and integrate food delivery services.

This strategic investment by Dianping brings Ele.me resources from mid-to-high-end restaurants and a white-collar consumer base. Ele.me's existing businesses will also complement Dianping's existing strengths in information decision-making, restaurant reservations, and group buying.
The legendary win-win situation.

The news quickly reached Yanjing.

It's already mid-November, and winter has arrived in Yanjing, with its biting winds.

At Meituan headquarters, Wang Xing looked at the report with a gloomy expression and remained silent for a long time.

"What? Are you a little worried?" A man's voice sounded from behind.

Without turning around, Wang Xing knew it was Gan Jiawei.

“Yes.” Wang Xing came to his senses and sighed deeply: “The addition of Dianping has greatly increased Ele.me’s strength and poses a great threat to us.”

"Don't be afraid." Gan Jiawei patted Wang Xing on the shoulder and said with a smile, "There are some things that Ele.me can give us, and we can give us even more, but the premise is that we defeat Ele.me!"

"What do you mean?" Wang Xing turned to look at him.

“I’ll go find Wang Tao from Dianping when the time is right,” Gan Jiawei said.

Wang Xing understood that this opportune moment presented Meituan with a chance to defeat Ele.me, so he nodded.

"Then let's fight."

"Let's fight! Establish a 'command center' in each city, and conduct daily reviews." "Conquer all university cafeterias in Yanjing within three months! We're going to fire on Ele.me's backyard!"

Soon, Deng Fei, the marketing operations officer of Ele.me, received an urgent message from the Yanjing branch. The other party was coming with great force, so Deng Fei personally flew to Yanjing to take command on the front line.

"They ordered takeout with a drink included? We don't want to go through all that trouble, we'll just give them a three-yuan discount!"

"Spend 20 and get 15 off!"

"New users get their first order free!"

"A big meal for just 1 yuan"

Both sides began a frantic expansion of territory and a money-burning spree.

With fierce competition erupting in the food delivery market, Zhang Xuhao even established a "wartime command center," dividing the country into six major regions and adopting different strategies for Meituan in each region, keeping him extremely busy.

Fang Qingye returned to Nanxin.

For him, his role at Ele.me was to make strategic decisions, such as the recent "accelerated" expansion of Ele.me and a series of plans, but he did not participate in the specific operations.

Another aspect is financing, to ensure that Ele.me's cash flow will not be disrupted.

This round of financing of 30 billion yuan is not expected to be enough, but according to calculations, it can last until at least the second half of next year. For Ele.me and Fang Qingye, there is still more than half a year, and everything is still in time.

Moreover, those investment giants are also watching the battle between Ele.me and Meituan with great interest.

Is Eleme, the original food delivery giant, more powerful, or is Meituan, which entered the food delivery industry riding the wave of its victory in the group-buying war, the better choice?
Their victory or defeat will directly determine the next investment of these bigwigs.

The weather in Shanghai wasn't great today, with a cold wind blowing, but there was a lively scene in front of a building in the middle section of Yinzhou Street in Lujiazui, as the long-awaited Pudong branch of Jinghai Bank finally opened.

As senior executives of Jinghai Bank, all four branch managers personally visited the branch. Amidst the popping of balloons and applause, Fang Qingye smiled and unveiled the red silk cloth covering the plaque.

Immediately afterwards, Fang Qingye and the others inspected the branch with great interest. The business hall was not large, with a total area of ​​only about 200 square meters. However, the office space on the second floor was much larger, having rented out half of the second floor.

It turns out that the newly established Digital Banking Department and Information Technology Department are also located here, making it easier for Chen Danlu to manage them uniformly.

The Pudong branch has now been fully staffed with three branch managers. In addition to Chen Danlu and Wei Hang, there is another female branch manager named Ren Yaling, who was recruited by Chen Danlu from the Shanghai branch of China Merchants Bank. She is also a graduate of Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management with a master's degree, but she is several years younger than Chen Danlu and is only 30 years old this year. She previously served as the deputy director of the Science and Technology Finance Department of the Shanghai branch of China Merchants Bank.

After the tour, the bank presidents held a closed-door meeting.

"According to the previous plan, in addition to carrying out traditional basic financial services such as deposit taking, loan issuance, and settlement, the Pudong branch will focus on building a digital bank. In accordance with the principles of prudence and caution, we will first carry out internet lending, namely P2F and online banking account opening," Chen Danlu said.

"Because Jinghai Bank is one of the pilot banks for national internet finance, these two businesses have been approved by the Shanghai branch of the People's Bank of China and the Shanghai Banking Regulatory Bureau. President Ren is currently organizing a team to prepare for them. Please let President Ren give you a briefing on the specific details."

Ren Yaling is short, has short hair, and is from Sichuan Province; she speaks crisply and clearly.
"Our P2F wealth management product is named 'Wenyingbao'. The minimum investment threshold is 100 yuan, and the expected annualized return is 7%-8.7%. It mainly invests in securities companies' margin trading business. The specific details have been written into the report submitted to headquarters, so I will not go into them again."

"Another aspect is online account opening, which, like 'Wenyingbao,' involves the construction of an online platform. Zhiyun Technology is actively developing it. In addition to adding these two modules to our Jinghai Bank mobile app, we will also launch a separate 'Wenyingbao' app."

Just before Chen Danlu became the branch manager of Pudong Branch, on Fang Qingye's recommendation, Chen Danlu took the lead in collaborating with Zhiyun Technology and signed an agreement to upgrade the online banking and develop a new APP.

"When will it be officially launched?" This was what Fang Qingye was concerned about.

(End of this chapter)