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

Chapter 577, Section 576: "State-owned capital is still capital; it also seeks out high-quality projects to invest in."

In the afternoon, sitting in the nursery office, Fang Qingye made a phone call. After chatting for a few minutes, Fang Qingye got down to business. She first gave a brief introduction to Ele.me's current situation, saying that she was preparing to raise funds again and asked President Ning if he was interested.

"Mr. Ning, I heard that COFCO has recently established an investment company called Mingcheng Financial, which specializes in equity investment and entrusted management of equity investment funds. I wonder if they are interested in investing in Ele.me? If you would like to know more, I can send you detailed information about Ele.me."

On the other end of the phone, President Ning chuckled: "I heard President Qiao mention this a couple of days ago. Here's what I'll do: send me the information, I'll take a look, and then I'll pass it on to Yang Jie, the general manager of Mingcheng Financial. Their company has a dedicated investment team to conduct the evaluation. If there's anything you need to ask or communicate, just have them contact you."

"OK, thanks."

During the phone call, President Ning gave him the email addresses of the four people, and they chatted for a few more minutes before hanging up.

Fang Qingye immediately sent the information prepared by Ele.me to them before picking up her thermos.

If both of these companies are willing to invest, along with Tuofang Technology, Rongxin Investment Company newly established by Shi Guangrong, Bangcheng International owned by Qiao Yongfeng, and Fengrong Investment by Qin Feng, this round of financing would be enough even without those private equity investment companies!

Just then, Fang Qingye's phone rang, and it turned out to be a call from Shen Nanpeng.

Calling at this time?

Fang Qingye smiled, pressed the answer button, and Shen Nanpeng's enthusiastic voice immediately came through the receiver: "President Fang, are you in Shanghai? Want to play golf tomorrow?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm in Nanxin."

"Oh, I see. I heard that Ele.me is going to launch a new round of financing?"

Fang Qingye knew that he had called to ask about this matter, so she was quite truthful: "Yes, based on Ele.me's current operational status and financial situation, we have decided to conduct the first round of financing. Of course, before the formal financing, we will hold a shareholders' meeting to vote in accordance with the articles of association."

"Hehe. Mr. Zhao from Jiantou Huake, who you played golf with the other day, is he going to participate in this financing?"

"Yes, Mr. Zhao is also very interested in Ele.me."

"I really didn't expect that state-owned capital would get involved."

“State-owned capital is still capital. They also seek out high-quality projects to invest in in order to obtain greater profits. Am I right?” Fang Qingye said casually.

“That makes sense. Sequoia China will also participate in this round of financing. We at Sequoia China have already participated in two rounds of financing for Ele.me, and we shouldn’t miss this one.”

"President Shen, are you still so confident in Ele.me?" Fang Qingye said with a slightly joking tone, "Meituan is now pressing hard in the market. The latest statistics show that it has already captured 20% of the market share."

"Ele.me still holds a 75% market share, and what surprised me was that Ele.me acted even more aggressively than Meituan."

"Wolf-like nature? President Shen, you don't mean the online reports of the two companies engaging in verbal and physical battles, do you?" Fang Qingye laughed heartily.

At the end of last year, an email titled "Please put down your fists and pick up your self-respect" spread rapidly online.

Kang Jia vehemently denied the allegations, claiming that the cuts were malicious and that he had already reported the incident to the local police station in Shanghai.

This "joke" makes people think a lot.

Fang Qingye did not stop the two companies from engaging in a war of words online.

At least for now, investors can see that Ele.me is not the "student-like" company that people say it is, and can still compete on equal footing with Meituan's thuggish tactics.

"Mr. Fang, jokes aside, Sequoia China will definitely participate in this round of financing. The specific amount will depend on the total amount raised by Ele.me and the content of the financing report, but my investment will not be less than the amount invested last time." In the last round of financing, Sequoia China invested 6.5 million yuan, and this time it will exceed that figure!
“OK!” Fang Qingye’s tone also became serious: “Ele.me already has an updated operational report and financial statements, and future financing reports will be based on this.”

"Okay, send it to me now."

"can."

After hanging up the phone, Fang Qingye forwarded a copy to Shen Nanpeng's email address.

Why is Shen Nanpeng so proactive this time?
Could it be related to our chance encounter while playing golf last time?
Perhaps this is possible; investors are generally very perceptive, especially big names like Neil Shen.

In the evening, after dinner, Fang Qingye strolled around the nursery, followed by Wangcai.

When Bai Ou was in Shanghai, Fang Qingye didn't stay at the lakeside villa; she stayed at the nursery.

Grandparents are getting old and hope their children and grandchildren will visit them often; it makes them happy.

Living here is also a way of looking after them, so that if there's an emergency, I won't be caught off guard. This way, my dad and second uncle can rest assured.

It gets dark early in Nanxin; it's dark before six o'clock. Fang Qingye strolled around for a while before preparing to return to the courtyard, when she saw a man and a woman walk into the nursery.

It's Dahai and his wife Chen Meimei.

Chen Meimei is pregnant; her belly is already showing.

"What? You two ended up here while taking a walk?" Fang Qingye stopped and greeted them with a smile.

“We went to your villa, but the lights were off, so we came to the nursery,” Song Dahai said.

"Did you need something? It's a bit cold outside, let's go inside."

Fang Qingye led the two into the courtyard and sat them in the living room. Song Dahai and his wife greeted Fang Qingye's grandparents, chatted with the elderly couple for a while, and then got down to business.

"Ye Zi, I'm here today for two things. First, to repay part of the loan to Tuofang Technology," Song Dahai said.

"Is there no problem with cash flow now?"

"Yes, although Kerry Group had a major incident in the first half of the year, its sales in the second half were still good, and it was still profitable for the whole year, with a profit of about 4.1 million yuan. Of course, this is related to the booming real estate market last year."

"Yes, but the situation is not good this year. Since October last year, the government has introduced a series of purchase restriction policies. The pressure will gradually be released. Although there will be no purchase restrictions in county towns, it will affect the prosperity of the entire industry, especially as banks tighten credit. You should be prepared," Fang Qingye instructed.

"Meimei and I have also noticed this. This year we will strictly control the scale of debt and accelerate the reduction of inventory."

"That's good."

"In addition, we sold two construction companies that were originally under Kerry Group, which brought us 220 million yuan in revenue. So I decided to repay part of the loan, about 200 million yuan. We plan to pay off the other 200 million yuan in two installments this year and next year."

“Sure, just contact Bai Ou,” Fang Qingye replied, then asked, “Is there anything else?”

“I heard that your Ele.me company is raising a new round of funding, and my Kerry Group is also interested in investing,” Song Dahai said.

(End of this chapter)