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

Chapter 581 Ele.me Financing Press Conference or Meituan Financing Press Conference

Song Xiaoqing, who was about to buy tickets online, also stopped what she was doing and looked at him.

"As I said, this possibility exists, but our current task is to give Meituan a good beating. The more fiercely we beat them, the greater the possibility!" Fang Qingye replied with a smile.

That afternoon, Fang Qingye flew back to Shanghai, and the next morning she took a car back to Nanxin.

Good news keeps coming: First, Qin Feng's Rongxin Investment has officially decided to invest 8-10 billion yuan, with the specific figure depending on Ele.me's latest valuation and financing report.

Zhao Yanjing's Jiantou Huake Investment invested 12-15 billion yuan, and Mingcheng Financial Investment invested 10-15 billion yuan. In early April, explosive news came online that Tencent had decided to make a strategic investment in Ele.me, with the specific amount being around 30 billion yuan, and at the same time, it would open up QQ and WeChat traffic portals to Ele.me.

At this point, KPMG once again gave Ele.me a valuation that skyrocketed to 400 billion!
On May 4th, the first day back to work after the May Day holiday, Ele.me held a press conference to announce the results of its new round of financing: it received a total of 8 billion yuan from Tencent, Tuofang Technology, Sequoia China, Jiantou Huake, Mingcheng Financial, Qiao Yongfeng's Bangcheng International, Qin Feng's Fengrong Investment, and Shi Guangrong's Rongxin Investment!
After the announcement, the news was quickly reprinted by major websites. Zhang Xuhao, facing the reporters' cameras, was full of confidence and determined to continue this price subsidy war so that consumers could get more benefits, and so on.
At Meituan's headquarters in Beijing, a press conference is being prepared, and several Meituan executives are discussing the matter.

Meituan's latest round of financing announcement!

"Is Mr. Ma sure he can't come?" Wang Xing asked Gan Jiawei.

"Yes, Mr. Ma led his team to New York to communicate with the American side about Alibaba's listing. Nothing is more important than this."

Gan Jiawei's words silenced Wang Xing.

Yes
In Ma Yun's eyes, Meituan is just one of Alibaba's many invested companies. How could it be compared to Alibaba itself?
Seeing Wang Xing's expression, Gan Jiawei added, "Although Mr. Ma can't come, Mr. Zhang Yong, the president of Tmall, will be here to offer his congratulations."

Zhang Yong!

This is also a key figure at Alibaba, and is said to be Ma Yun's successor!

Zhang Yong's arrival made Wang Xing feel a little better.

Shen Nanpeng, General Manager of Sequoia China, will also be there.

Shen Nanpeng? This person...
Well, she's very adept at social maneuvering.

He has invested in both Meituan and Ele.me, and it is rumored that he also has a personal relationship with Fang Qingye, the chairman of Ele.me.

It's really hard to figure out.

However, as the general manager of Sequoia China, backed by Sequoia Capital, he is a very influential figure in the domestic investment community, so his arrival is a good thing.

"Zhang Chi, head of China business at General Atlantic, will also be attending."

"Oh," Wang Xing nodded.

In this round of financing, there were three investors: Alibaba, Sequoia China, and General Atlantic. It was a very pleasant occasion that important figures from each of them came to support the round.

More importantly, the three companies invested a total of 30 billion RMB, setting a new record for Meituan's financing rounds, with Alibaba naturally contributing the majority of the investment.

The group was discussing the details of tomorrow's press conference when someone knocked on the door. A staff member rushed in, looking rather grim.

"Mr. Wang, Mr. Gan, breaking news! Ele.me just held a press conference in Shanghai about its financing situation."

what? !

Everyone immediately stood up.

How much funding was raised in total?

Which investment institutions are involved?

The first question was asked by Wang Xing, and the second by Gan Jiawei.

"A total of 80 billion yuan was raised, with investors including Tencent, Topway Technology, Sequoia China, and China Construction Investment Huake."

The employee handed Wang Xing a document listing the specific investment amounts from various institutions.

80 billion! Wang Xing was just brimming with confidence, having successfully raised 30 billion this time, which would allow him to continue the cash-burning game with Ele.me. He never expected that the other party would raise 80 billion!
How do you play this?!

Wang Xing's heart sank.

Gan Jiawei's attention, however, was focused on the specific investment institutions. He took the documents and looked at them carefully.

Tencent has finally invested, and the amount is the largest.

This seems both unexpected and reasonable.

In the past two years, Tencent and Alibaba have engaged in fierce competition, especially in the consumer goods sector, from online taxi services before the Lunar New Year to food delivery now.

Sequoia China and Topway Technology have appeared on Ele.me's funding list multiple times, which is not surprising.

Jiantou Huake and Mingcheng Financial?
Huh?
"A financial company under a central state-owned enterprise has also invested in Ele.me?" Gan Jiawei said with some surprise.

His words startled Wang Xing, who quickly came over to look.

“Jiantou Huake is a subsidiary of China Construction Investment Corporation, which in turn is a subsidiary of Central Huijin Investment Ltd.”

“Mingcheng Financial is a wholly-owned subsidiary of COFCO Capital Investment Co., Ltd., which was recently established in Shenzhen. COFCO Capital is a state-owned holding company under COFCO Group.”

Gan Jiawei introduced them one by one.

"I never expected that Ele.me would be involved with a state-owned enterprise. Fang Qingye is really something," Gan Jiawei murmured.

Wang Xing's face turned even uglier, and everyone else looked at each other in bewilderment.

Although Ele.me's CEO Zhang Xuhao currently receives the most public exposure, those in the investment circle know that the real helmsman of Ele.me is its chairman, Fang Qingye—that somewhat mysterious young man who rarely appears in the media.

At this moment, the employee who had just come in added:

"At the press conference, Ele.me's CEO also answered questions from reporters, one of whom asked a question related to Meituan."

The employee suddenly became hesitant and stammering.

"Is it related to Meituan? Are you asking about the subsidy war between the two companies?" Gan Jiawei asked again.

"No, a reporter asked Zhang Xuhao about recent online rumors that Ele.me and Meituan might merge, and asked if this was true?"

"Nonsense! Meituan will never merge with Ele.me! We will fight them to the last moment!" Wang Xing stood up excitedly, waving his fist.

Gan Jiawei wasn't as excited as Wang Xing; instead, he asked, "What was Zhang Xuhao's answer?"

He said it was a rumor and asked everyone not to believe it. Ele.me has never been in contact with Meituan and has no plans to merge.

"Oh," Gan Jiawei said nothing more and fell into deep thought.

"Mr. Wang, what about tomorrow's press conference?" the employee asked tentatively.

"What do you mean?" Wang Xing asked, looking at the crowd.

"Forget it, lest we be laughed at by those reporters."

"That's right, we can just have a signing ceremony and not invite any reporters," the high-ranking officials discussed among themselves.

"No! We need to invite reporters!" Wang Xing's tone suddenly became firm: "Although Ele.me received more funding than us this time, it doesn't mean they can completely defeat us! We need to make it clear to the public: we will fight Ele.me to the death!"

Fight to the bitter end?

That means burning through even more investors' money!
If investors see no hope of beating Ele.me, would they still let you do this?
Gan Jiawei frowned, but didn't say anything.

(End of this chapter)