Chapter 107: Financing begins
When leaving the alley, facing the dazzling sunlight, Lu Heng subconsciously looked back at the leafy cypress. Looking far away, he seemed to see the locust tree in the yard that was blown down by the wind and rain.
Wu Mingming was still walking forward, but when he saw that Lu Heng had not followed, he couldn't help but look back.
"Chief, what's wrong?"
Lu Heng shook his head and walked to keep up with Wu Mingming's footsteps.
In the car, Wu Mingming noticed that Lu Heng talked a lot less. Even if he took the initiative to bring up the topic, Lu Heng would only respond with a couple of absent-minded hums.
Wu Mingming couldn't help but wonder if the room chief was still thinking about Lei Jun.
This made him feel a little uncomfortable, even though compared to Ele.me, Lei Jun’s career overwhelmed Ele.me from the beginning.
But Ele.me is the real company that belongs to him and Lu Heng. Lu Heng is so concerned about Lei Jun's affairs, but he is indifferent to the difficulties that Ele.me is facing now.
Little did he know that Lu Heng, who was driving, was thinking about Ele.me!
"Regardless of whether Meituan, Ele.me's biggest competitor in history, has sprouted up now, just the words revealed by Li Yanhong at the China Internet Leaders Summit a few days ago have already shown that Ele.me is now in a situation with countless potential enemies.
’s pass.”
Lu Heng silently thought about it. As a salesperson in his previous life, ordering takeout was commonplace.
He has personally tried many softwares such as Ele.me, Meituan, Baidu Takeout, TaoDianDian, Home Delivery, etc.
Among them, Baidu Waimai relies on Baidu's strong promotion and publicity capabilities, second only to Ele.me and Meituan. According to common sense, its emergence will be delayed by one to two years.
But it is obvious that under his own stimulation, Li Yanhong now has the idea of getting involved in this market.
Relying on Baidu's technology accumulation, it is not too simple to make software similar to Ele.me!
If Baidu Waimai had appeared in advance, the money-burning war that Lu Heng had been worried about would have been inevitable.
Because for similar software, the market is in China, and the accumulation among users has the same purpose.
At that time, if you give me a red envelope and I offer a special discount, with a huge number of users, just a few yuan discount will be a terrible waste of money.
With his current financial resources, Lu Heng knew that he would never be able to afford such a terrifying money-burning rate.
After meeting with Lei Jun just now, Lu Heng vaguely understood some truth.
Sometimes, cooperation and mutual benefit are far better than eating alone.
Just like the locust tree, even if it is blocked by surrounding walls and rooms, when strong winds and heavy rains come, its shallow roots still cannot prevent its destruction.
But the green cypress exposed in the open ground at the door is different. Relying on the strong roots of one tree after another under the ground, even though it is a big tree and attracts the wind, it still stands for a hundred years without falling!
The older Lei Jun knows this truth far better than himself, so before he has tasted the benefits, he is looking for partners who can support future Xiaomi mobile phones with him, in order to taste greater benefits in the future.
This time, Ele.me encountered a funding gap.
If Lu Heng grits his teeth, he can still help him get through it.
But it’s just this time!
The last time Ele.me was short of 10 million, 6Heng invested, and this time the gap instantly became several times larger. What about next time, will the gap be calculated in units of "100 million yuan"?
6 Hengcheng can afford Youzi Technology because Youzi Technology and Hengcheng Group are inextricably linked. Although they are independent companies, they still belong to the group.
And its development is inseparable from Hengcheng Group.
Therefore, Yangyouzi Technology is actually just a normal consumption within the group.
But Ele.me is different. It has nothing to do with Hengcheng Group. Lu Heng cannot let Hengcheng Group support it. Lu Heng privately has to look for more high-quality projects for investment.
His funds are limited!
Then the choice before Lu Heng is now very clear!
The car was still driving at normal speed, and Lu Heng said without shifting his gaze:
"Obviously, be prepared for financing!"
Wu Mingming looked at Lu Heng vaguely, as if he suspected that he had not heard clearly. He subconsciously asked: "Chief, what did you say?"
Lu Heng said in a deep voice: "Ele.me can start external financing. With my current financial resources, I can no longer make this cake bigger. If we want to make more money through it, financing is an unavoidable option.
"
Wu Mingming listened blankly to Lu Heng's explanation. Although he had known that such a day would come, he felt empty in his heart for some reason.
how to say?
It seems as if the brother company is about to be tainted by outsiders.
Lu Heng never procrastinates in doing things. Now that he has decided to raise funds, he cannot procrastinate.
The longer it is delayed, the bigger problems Ele.me will face now and the bigger its losses will be.
And once the financing is successful, in his words, the share he gets will be smaller, but the cake will be bigger, and the amount he can eat will also increase.
The next day, Lu Heng released the news that Ele.me was going to raise funds through his network of contacts.
In the investment industry, news spreads very quickly. In almost a short period of time, everyone who needs to know knows it.
People who shouldn't know more or less got the news through other people's discussions.
In view of the fact that Lu Heng, who was in the limelight some time ago, gave a speech as the founder of Ele.me at the China Internet Leaders Summit, and made everyone have a certain understanding of the online food ordering software Ele.me.
So as soon as the news came out that Ele.me was going to raise funds this time, interested people took action one after another.
American thinker Emerson once said: An institution is an extension of a person's influence!
This sentence is vividly explained in Sequoia Capital!
Don Valentine, the founder of Sequoia Capital, has an investment philosophy that has caused strong controversy in the investment community, that is, it is better to invest in a company with huge market demand than to invest in a company that needs to create market demand."
Because it overemphasizes the significance of [the market] to a company, over the years, this saying has been extended to the more popular "Bet on the track, not the racer."
In other words, their investments focus more on the market prospects of the other party, rather than on the entrepreneur's ability, the resume of the entrepreneurial team, etc.
As a world-renowned investment institution, Sequoia Capital established the Sequoia Capital China Fund in China in 2005, neither too early nor too late, and has continued to carry out their investment business.
As the president of Sequoia Capital China Fund, Ji Yue did not stay at the company at the moment, but took a low-key business car to a hotel in Beijing.
The hotel is called "Home Inn" and has thousands of chain stores in China.
In a suite on the top floor of the Home Inn, Ji Yue met the person he wanted to see during this trip.
"Dr. Shen, I'm disturbing you!"
Shen Nanpeng looked at the man who was only a few years younger than him, smiled, and asked him to sit down.
"It's nothing to disturb. It's just that it hasn't been long since the last investment. Why did you come to me again? Is there another big investment worth tens of millions of dollars?"
Ji Yue sat upright and looked respectfully at the famous man in front of him. Although he was the president of Sequoia Capital China Fund, Shen Nanpeng was one of the founders of Sequoia China.
In other words, he is his own boss!
Not only that, the Home Inn at your feet was founded by Shen Nanpeng. When traveling, Ctrip, the current number one travel software in the country, was also founded by him.
And both the Home Inn chain and Ctrip travel network were listed on the NASDAQ in the United States under the leadership of Shen Nanpeng!
With such a resume and identity, it’s no wonder Ji Yue takes him so seriously.
He nodded and said seriously: "Compared with the last time we invested in JD.com, the company we are targeting this time is also an Internet O2O company, and after strict review and investigation, the other party is very satisfied with our investment conditions."
Shen Nanpeng asked with a smile: "Which company is it and what does it do?"
"Ele.me, we are engaged in online ordering, in other words, we are engaged in the takeout market."
After hearing this, Shen Nanpeng couldn't help but murmur.
"Are you hungry? Order food online and take out food! This seems to be a very big market!"
Ji Yue nodded vigorously and said seriously: "Yes, the market is very big!"
Shen Nanpeng waved his hand with a smile, "In that case, let's talk! Regarding the funds, you should follow the standard of half of the investment in Jingdong Mall. If it is not enough, just call me directly!"
Ji Yue responded excitedly, stood up and prepared to say goodbye and leave.
But when he walked to the door, he seemed to remember something, and turned back to mention something to Shen Nanpeng.
"The founder of Ele.me is Lu Heng, who was the only shareholder who did not attend the last time we invested in JD.com."
Upon hearing this, Shen Nanpeng's eyes suddenly lit up.
Chapter completed!