I can become stronger by paying salaries. I have one billion employees!

Chapter 211: With a valuation of 20 billion, KuaiRun launches in Shanghai, igniting the food delivery war!
On January 28, Chen Yansen returned to Xucheng by car.

Before leaving, he bought Chen Guobin a detached villa outside the city. It was over 300 square meters, fully furnished and equipped with appliances, ready for immediate move-in.

In Zhao Siyuan's own words: the landlord was his friend who went to Shenzhen to develop his career, and the villa had been vacant for two years. Chen Yansen's purchase of it was a great help to him.

Chen Yansen naturally didn't believe it, and guessed in his heart that the house might have been obtained from some developer.

But he didn't mind, since the purchase price was the same as the market price and the procedures were complete, so no one could find fault with it.

As for whether Chen Guobin would stay or not, and whether he could get used to living there, Chen Yansen couldn't be bothered to care.

On the Bengbu-Huai'an Expressway, a Bentley Mulsanne and a BMW 750 were driving one after the other.

Chen Yansen sat in the back seat of the car, pondering marketing and promotion strategies for Kuaidi Dache.

Cheng Weixing plans to invite some drivers and passengers to conduct a small-scale gray-scale test, first to collect feedback, and then further optimize and adjust, striving to ensure that the order matching algorithm and payment process remain stable after the system goes live.

At the same time, a ground sales team was established, and all members were given comprehensive training to ensure that everyone was familiar with the product features and promotional scripts.

Initially, Cheng Weixing wanted to outsource the offline promotion work to a third-party ground promotion company, but Chen Yansen refused.

First, he was very familiar with the true nature of these ground promotion companies: they were perfunctory in their work, often falsified data, and spent money without achieving any results. Second, members of the Kuaidi Dache team would find it difficult to discover the real pain points of users if they did not go offline to have close contact with drivers and passengers.

In addition, Cheng Weixing, leveraging his position as the executive director of the Hangzhou University Student Entrepreneurship Alliance, easily won over the executives of two local taxi companies, who were willing to try promoting the ride-hailing app to their taxi drivers.

As for online promotion, Cheng Weixing doesn't need to worry. The Orange App Store alone can bring Kuaidi Dache over 2000 million impressions.

Compared to the previous version, the estimated launch date of Kuaidi Dache (a ride-hailing app) is now a full six months earlier.

Meanwhile, Chen Wei, the founder of Didi Chuxing, is still serving as the deputy general manager of the B2C business unit at Zhifubao, showing no signs of resigning to start his own business.

Last December, Chen Yansen tried to recruit Chen Wei through a headhunter, hoping to get him to join Senlian Capital to lead the Orange Payment project team, but the offer was rejected.

This shows that at this point, Chen Wei didn't even have the idea of ​​changing jobs.

But Chen Yansen knew in his heart that the development of ride-hailing services was unstoppable. Even if Didi hadn't appeared, Dada and Gugu would have competed with him.

Ele.me has secured funding!

Mengjie, who was sitting to the side, suddenly spoke up.

Chen Yansen frowned and took the phone from Meng Jie.

The news headline read: "Ele.me, the pioneer of food delivery both domestically and internationally, completes its Series B financing round and will receive 5000 million yuan from Alibaba."

The originator of food delivery?

Did Zhang Xuhao buy the announcement himself?

Who is the best at this thing? Who is the originator?
Thinking of this, Chen Yansen dialed Pei Yi's number and asked, "I'll give you six months. If you can't kill Ele.me, you'll have to give up your CEO position."

"Boss, I understand. Tomorrow I will take Kou Zhen and the men I've transferred to Shanghai to seize the market."

Pei Yi sensed the hostility in Chen Yansen's words and quickly responded.

Currently, there are only two large-scale food delivery platforms on the market: Ele.me and Kuaipao. Although Kuaipao has advantages in funding and traffic, Ele.me has been entrenched in Shanghai for four or five years. It will not be easy for Pei Yi to wipe out Zhang Xuhao in one fell swoop.

Fortunately, Pei Yi is also from Shanghai and understands the local catering industry and customers' ordering habits.

"That's good. Don't let me down."

Chen Yansen gave a stern warning and then hung up the phone.

'The domestic internet business landscape seems to be in complete chaos.'

Chen Yansen thought secretly.

Or perhaps the major shift began when Ali acquired FoxTao through a share swap.

Kuaidi Dache launched six months earlier than other ride-hailing services, Ele.me secured its Series B funding a year earlier, and Meituan has yet to emerge victorious from the fierce competition among group-buying platforms…

As Chen Yansen's funds and resources increase, his every move is changing the course of the future.

After pondering for a while, Chen Yansen came to his senses and did not panic because of these changes.

After all, his greatest reliance is the Torch System, not the information advantage of being a prophet.

Will Ele.me's funding round impact Kuai Pao's financing and development?

Seeing that he had been silent for a long time, Mengjie couldn't help but ask worriedly.

"Business competition is sometimes unavoidable. Just like the group-buying war, no matter how long it lasts, there will always be a final winner."

Chen Yansen smiled faintly and said it without caring.

Meng Jie nodded. Seeing Chen Yansen's confident demeanor, she felt relieved.

at the same time.

Tencent, Sequoia Capital, and Hillhouse Capital all received the news. They never expected that in just a few months, the business model of food delivery in the investment community would undergo a complete 180-degree turn.

Now that Ali has entered the market, the battle between Ele.me and Kuaipao will inevitably evolve into a competition between Ali and Senlian Capital.

"Martin, contact Chen Yansen as soon as possible and tell him that Tencent is willing to give a valuation of 16 billion."

Ma Wenteng gave instructions to Liu Zhiping.

The price has increased by 2 million compared to the previous offer.

“Pony, based on my understanding of Chen Yansen, he probably won’t accept it. His price target is at least 30% higher than a reasonable offer to have any chance of persuading him.”

Liu Zhiping shook his head, directly rejecting Ma Wenteng's suggestion.

"When it comes to greed, no one can compare to this kid."

Ma Wenteng was stunned for a moment. Although he didn't want to admit it, he understood that Liu Zhiping was right.

Take Tencent's investment in Pinbei as an example. Outsiders praised Tencent for its keen eye for talent, saying that it acquired a 15% stake in Pinbei with only $3 million and QQ's primary traffic entry point.

But who knows how much effort he put into getting the board to approve this resolution?

To Ma Wenteng's relief, Chen Yansen's project management skills remained astonishingly strong.

In just over two months, Pinbei has risen to the top three in the industry market share, and it's on the verge of catching up with JD.com. Investment institutions have even given Pinbei a sky-high valuation of 60 billion US dollars based on its current daily active users, order volume, and sales volume.

Those Tencent board members who questioned Ma Wenteng's valuation of Pinbei at $20 billion have now shut their mouths and are no longer making a sound.

"Therefore, I think a valuation of 20 billion is more reasonable. If Ele.me fails to withstand the pressure from Kuai Pao and Kuai Pao swallows up the food delivery market in Shanghai, the valuation will be much higher than 20 billion."

Liu Zhiping said with a light laugh.

"You think so highly of the Kuaipao project?" Ma Wenteng asked rhetorically.

"No, no, no, I just think highly of Chen Yansen," Liu Zhiping emphasized, adjusting his glasses.

“Okay, I understand. We’ll go with the price you said.” Ma Wenteng replied, thinking it wasn’t worth missing the best opportunity to invest in Kuaipao just for a difference of tens of millions of yuan.

the other side.

Chen Yansen had just arrived at the Virtual Academy when he received a call from Lin Chenfeng.

"Mr. Chen, is it possible to discuss the Series A funding for Kuaipao?" Lin Chenfeng asked directly.

He knew in his heart that the only person who could make the decision on this matter was Chen Yansen.

He tried talking to Pei Yi and communicating with Kang Guodong, but it was no use. In the end, Chen Yansen had to make the final decision.

"Of course we can talk. The stronger Mr. Ma's sincerity, the higher the chances of the cooperation being finalized."

Chen Yansen answered slowly and deliberately.

"2 million yuan in funding, exchange chopsticks for a 10% equity stake." Lin Chenfeng simply revealed his hand, handing the choice to Chen Yansen.

"Sure, but I have one condition: QQ and WeChat must provide additional traffic resources for Kuaipao, with a minimum daily exposure of 1000 million for each entry point. The contract term must be at least five years. In return, Tencent will have priority in investing in Kuaipao's Series B round and the right to exit early."

Chen Yansen used the prepared script he had prepared, indicating to Lin Chenfeng to pass it on to Ma Wenteng.

"Mr. Chen, your request is not simple at all. It seems that Martin and Mr. Ma are going to have a headache again."

Lin Chenfeng sighed and said with a smile.

As the investment liaison between Tencent and Chen Yansen, Chen Yansen's biggest impression on him was that he was difficult to deal with and demanding, but to be fair, the investment returns were also frighteningly high.

Although Chen Yansen did not request a primary or secondary entry point this time, a resource slot with 1000 million daily impressions is a crucial resource that many business units within Tencent would fight tooth and nail for.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Lin. I look forward to your good news."

Chen Yansen smiled. He didn't care what Ma Wenteng and Liu Zhiping thought. DST Capital had no resources in terms of traffic, so he rejected them all.

He would still refuse if the penguin only offered money.

Kuaipao's development requires a lot of funds, but it definitely doesn't lack 2-3 million.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Yansen looked out the window and saw that Xiao Li had already driven to Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park.

Although tomorrow is a working day, in Buildings 6 and 8, apart from some customer service and technical staff who remain on duty, many business development personnel are already sitting at their workstations, contacting merchants and discussing the onboarding process.

"Squad leader, Happy New Year!" As soon as Chen Yansen got off the bus, Xu Xingxing came over, spreading her hands as if asking for a red envelope.

"No red envelopes will be given out this year to start work."

Chen Yansen waved his hand, signaling Xu Xingxing to get lost.

"Huh!? Squad leader, no way! I came a day early just to get an extra red envelope for the start of the work year, and they've canceled it this year?"

Xu Xingxing tilted her head back and let out an "Ah!" sound, pretending to be in a state of great distress.

"Log in to Orange Pay at 10:08 AM tomorrow."

After Chen Yansen finished speaking, he ignored her and led Meng Jie into Building 6.

Upon hearing this, Xu Xingxing's eyes lit up, and she immediately understood what Chen Yansen meant.

Currently, Orange Technology and Pinbei together have more than 1000 employees. If he were to send out red envelopes to each and every one of them, it would take forever.

Chen Yansen didn't care about these formalities, so he had Orange Pay register everyone's account information in advance, so that the red envelopes would pop up directly on the app's homepage, which was simple and effortless.

the other side.

After securing funding, Zhang Xuhao immediately increased subsidies for new customers and delivery fees, and placed huge advertisements at more than a dozen subway entrances with high foot traffic, such as Xujiahui, People's Square, and Century Avenue, with the tagline: "Order takeout, go to Ele.me."

In addition, Ele.me promotional posters were also targeted at Shanghai IP addresses on portal websites such as Baidu Search, Sina, Sohu, and NetEase.

The company spent tens of millions of yuan on advertising alone.

It has to be said that Zhang Xuhao has an outstanding talent for 'spending money' in his bones.

Faced with the threat from Kuaipao, Zhang Xuhao chose to expand aggressively, attempting to capture as much market share as possible before Kuaipao entered Shanghai.

Unbeknownst to him, Pei Yi, Kou Zhen, and the others were standing at the Century Avenue subway station, looking at Ele.me's lightbox advertisement.

"Tell the marketing department that Kuaipao's advertising space should be better than Ele.me's. Cover it up in the passageways, station halls, escalator ceilings, and on the trains."

Pei Yi narrowed his eyes and gave instructions to his assistant.

“Yes, boss,” the assistant quickly replied.

"Mr. Kou, the sales representatives from Luzhou need to familiarize themselves with the commercial centers and routes of Shanghai as soon as possible. We will first establish ourselves in Xuhui District and expand outwards from Longcao Road, treating our scattered offices as an extension of our business scope. In addition, we need to speed up the recruitment of local business representatives."

Pei Yi then spoke to Kou Zhen.

"No problem," Kou Zhen readily agreed.

At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, two local group-buying websites in Shanghai went bankrupt in one go. All that was needed was to select some outstanding business personnel from the former employees of Yiqibuy and Gtuan.com.

Eighty percent of the employees in Kuaipao's merchant recruitment department come from the group-buying industry, and they are already very skilled at merchant expansion.

Pei Yi knew this, so he was more concerned with how to build a rider team in Shanghai and how to steal users from Ele.me.

Kuaipao's delivery speed, order allocation capabilities, and subsidy力度 far surpass Ele.me's. If he can't win, he won't have the face to stay in the CEO position.

(End of this chapter)