Chapter 157: Betting on the Seed Round, Valuation of 2 Billion US Dollars! Acquiring Yun

Three days later, at Building 8 of the Zhuxianzhuang Technology Park.

Inside the office, Chen Yansen hung up the phone.

Pony offered 300 million US dollars for 30% equity in Pinpai, a bid far more sincere than Mama Ali's.

But this is only the seed round; giving up such a high equity percentage would easily cause him to lose control of the company.

Senlian Capital holds 3% of Yunsu Express and 40% of Yunsu Logistics; these two companies have nearly 5,000 employees, yet they have never contributed a single thread of the Human Dao Torch to him.

This indicates that once Chen Yansen loses controlling interest, the employees under his banner will be unable to generate Torch Value.

Therefore, Chen Yansen refused very decisively; he told Liu Zhiping that 300 million US dollars for 15% equity in Pinpai was his bottom line.

Of course, his actual minimum requirement in his heart was 20%.

Simply put, Penguin used the top-tier traffic entry points of QQ and WeChat to exchange for 15% of Pinpai's original equity, and that 300 million US dollars was merely a bonus.

Chen Yansen's move effectively set Pinpai's valuation at 2 billion US dollars.

For an e-commerce platform still in the development stage, this valuation algorithm has no basis.

But this investment is not in the Pinpai project itself, but in Chen Yansen as a person.

Liu Zhiping immediately turned around and relayed the negotiation results to Ma Wenteng.

"Pony, although I agree with your idea of investing in Pinpai, this kid is too greedy; I think we should wait and see a bit longer, observing Pinpai's development first."

Liu Zhiping pondered seriously for a moment, then spoke to Ma Wenteng.

"300 million US dollars plus a top-tier entry display; even our internal projects wouldn't dare to make such a demand at a general meeting, yet he has such a big appetite."

Ma Wenteng pushed up his glasses, snorted coldly, and said.

"What do you mean?" Liu Zhiping asked tentatively.

"Agree to him, but regarding the contract term for the top-tier entry, I will only sign for three years."

Ma Wenteng narrowed his eyes, pondered for a long while, and then gave an unexpectedly different answer.

Liu Zhiping opened his mouth, his face full of surprise.

"What? Haven't you always wanted me to give up the self-operated e-commerce strategy? Now that we are acting according to your idea, why do you have such an expression?"

Ma Wenteng stood up, patted Liu Zhiping's shoulder, and joked with a smile.

"But Chen Yansen said the contract is signed for two years at a time."

Liu Zhiping came to his senses and replied with a bitter smile.

"What!? He only signs for two years?" Ma Wenteng's face was full of confusion.

These are the top-tier traffic entry points of QQ and WeChat, with daily exposures in the hundreds of millions and click-through UVs exceeding ten million.

The other party went to so much trouble, only to sign for two years?

According to Ma Wenteng's assumption, that kid Chen Yansen would have started by setting the contract term at five years or more.

"He said, if Pinpai isn't established within two years, he might as well find a block of tofu and smash his head against it."

Liu Zhiping relayed Chen Yansen's exact words.

"Having confidence is a good thing, but excessive confidence is arrogance." Ma Wenteng shook his head, thinking Chen Yansen was too arrogant.

Paipai. com, backed by Penguin with traffic support, couldn't even squeeze into the top ten of the industry.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have pinned his hopes for the e-commerce sector on an external company.

At this time, Ma Wenteng was not yet disheartened; only later, when Paipai. com's market share dropped to 1%, did he accept Liu Zhiping's suggestion.

To reach a strategic cooperation agreement with JD. com: if they needed money, give money; if they needed traffic, give traffic.

The only requirement was to help Penguin slap Taobao hard in the face in the e-commerce field.

Unfortunately, the handsome guy from Zhongguancun, Dong, served as the eternal number two for over a decade; only after Pinduoduo rose did Penguin manage to win a round back in the e-commerce race.

"Since the contract term is only two years, then let's agree to him." Ma Wenteng returned to his seat, frowned in deep thought, and after a long time, looked up at Liu Zhiping and said.

"Alright, I will arrange it." Liu Zhiping nodded.

That afternoon, Chen Yansen received Liu Zhiping's reply, which stated bluntly that Pony had put in a lot of effort to persuade Penguin's management to pass this investment resolution.

Chen Yansen smiled and did not take the other party's words to heart.

With such harsh conditions, even Pony could agree; even Chen Yansen had to admire him, as the other party had an element of gambling in it.

The subsequent docking process was handed over to Gao Weilin to handle; on Penguin's side, it was still the old acquaintance, Lin Chenfeng, who was in charge.

The day after the contract was signed, the news shot to the top of the hot search list.

"Business genius's third startup; Penguin Capital completes its first investment, with a financing amount as high as 300 million US dollars!"

"Penguin Vice President Liu Zhiping revealed externally: Pinpai will become a strategic partner of QQ, opening its top-tier entry point to them!"

"Rumored that before Penguin, Ali Baba also extended an olive branch, but was rejected by Chen Yansen!"

Details about this financing case were gradually exposed online.

This instantly broke the defenses of a group of entrepreneurs desperately seeking financing opportunities; especially Zhang Xuhao of Ele. me, who slammed the table in his office with a loud bang.

Why can Chen Yansen, relying on just a business concept, get a valuation of 2 billion US dollars?

Is this fair?

Damn it!

Why is it so hard for Ele. me to find investment!

Zhang Xuhao got so excited that he even blurted out his catchphrase, but unfortunately, no one was there to answer him.

Before Pinpai even launched, it had already gathered tens of millions in heat.

Whether users or merchants and platforms within the circle, everyone was guessing Pinpai's business model.

But trying to understand a company's full picture based solely on a name is undoubtedly too abstract.

Upon learning that Chen Yansen chose to align with Penguin, Ma Liyun felt instantly displeased, but he was busy handling merchant conflicts and the matter of repurchasing Ali Baba's equity, so he had no time to think too much.

He scoffed at Ma Wenteng's decision; daring to place a heavy bet without even a product, is there any difference from gambling?

Chen Yansen really is a business prodigy — still so young, yet already worth ten billion, having founded two billion-dollar enterprises in a row.

But in this world, is there anyone who wins every single time?

His earlier willingness to value the company at 500 million USD was simply because he had faith in Chen Yansen as a person.

But 2 billion USD far exceeded Ma Liyun's bottom line.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

The Pinbe members, upon seeing the news online, first confirmed it with Chen Yansen, and once they learned the news was true, each of them broke into smiles.

Although the project's funding was already ample, the significance of Penguin's 300 million USD was different — behind it stood Ma Wengteng's full support.

Wang Zihao came from a traffic-acquisition background and knew all too well the cost and difficulty of buying volume. Having hitched a ride on Penguin's big ship, one couldn't exactly say they'd be soaring nine thousand li on the wind, but the upcoming product launch would naturally go smoothly.

Zhang Wenbo and Xiang Pengfei were busy with product development, while Song Yuncheng, Chen Xu and others coordinated with the HR department, interviewing candidates every single day.

Zhang Yifeng, Li Hui and Yuan Wei were sent out by Chen Yansen — first to visit merchants, and second to take the opportunity to go deep into the original-production areas of tangerines, Orah mandarins and navel oranges, establishing contact with local agricultural associations to secure first-hand supply and pricing.

All in preparation for Pinbe's launch!

The other recruited business-development staff, armed with the merchant contact lists copied from Mama Ali, called them one by one, inviting them to come aboard Pinbe and open shops.

Without Penguin's investment and traffic support, these merchants really might not have been willing to join — after all, a new platform needs time to develop; entering too early meant low output, while also wasting manpower and money.

After all, Pinbe's entry requirements were high, with deposits starting at a hundred thousand — merchants without real strength really didn't have the nerve.

But now, with Penguin backing them and promising to embed Pinbe's redirect links in the first-tier entry points of QQ and WeChat, merchants from the Tao faction and Jingdong no longer hesitated.

Metersbonwe's Min Jie, as soon as Pinbe's merchant-recruitment rules were released, paid a 500,000 deposit on the spot, becoming the first brand to join Pinbe after Sister Chengzi's tech company.

After wrapping things up with Penguin, Chen Yansen gave Liao Wei a call.

The next morning, Liao Wei rushed over from Yanjing to Xucheng and walked into Chen Yansen's office.

"How's Yunsu Forwarding been lately?" Chen Yansen picked up the teapot, poured Liao Wei a cup of hot tea, and asked with a smile.

"Mama Ali does have resources in international logistics forwarding, but for now they've still handed the overseas-shopping business to Yunsu. Only the person in charge has changed, and I don't feel at ease about it."

Liao Wei's mood had been up and down lately — originally, following Fox Tao, he'd made cross-border forwarding business flourish.

But who would have thought Chen Yansen actually sold Fox Tao to Mama Ali!

"I called you here because there's something I want to discuss with you — I'm planning to wholly acquire Yunsu. What do you think?"

Chen Yansen picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and asked softly.

Acquire Yunsu?

Liao Wei froze for a beat, then immediately realized Chen Yansen must be referring to Yunsu Express, not Yunsu Forwarding.

"Mr. Chen, to be honest with you — these past two years the express-delivery industry has been under huge competitive pressure. In front of us there's SF Express and the Three-Tong-One-Da; behind us there's Jingdong, Guofeng and Tian Tian Express. Yunsu's business volume has been shrinking day by day, and now there are only about 300 delivery points left."

Liao Wei gave a wry smile — the implication being that he was willing to sell, but he didn't dare try to pull a fast one on Chen Yansen when it came to the valuation.

After all, the man was still the major shareholder of Yunsu Forwarding; the bowl of rice he was currently holding had been handed to him by Chen Yansen himself.

"You're all in the express-delivery business — how did you end up doing so badly?" Chen Yansen frowned and teased with a smile.

What does 300 delivery points even mean?

More than a decade later, SF Express at its peak period had over 200,000 stations nationwide.

Yunsu's scale couldn't even compare to a single hair on their body.

"Sigh, what could I do? E-commerce has been developing fast these past two years, everyone's fighting for market share. I've got few vehicles, few employees, few stations — I can't keep the delivery prices up, I can't beat them in a fight, I can't out-spend them in a price war. If it weren't for my old customers, I'd have shut Yunsu down long ago."

Liao Wei spread his hands and complained nonstop.

Chen Yansen smiled, thinking to himself: this is nothing — you ain't seen nothing yet.

In his previous life, Pinduoduo and Douyin E-commerce successively entered the low-price e-commerce market, and they ruthlessly drove the starting price of delivery fees down to 1 yuan. It was only later, when China Post stepped in, that the price was pulled back up to 1.4–1.5 yuan.

The 2011 market hadn't gotten that brutal yet — even signing contracts directly with express-delivery company headquarters, the minimum was still 3–4 yuan per order.

"On the price, I'll have Gao Weilin from Senlian negotiate with you."

Chen Yansen set down his teacup and said lightly.

Yunsu's total assets, bundled together, didn't even exceed 300 million — leaving it to Gao Weilin to negotiate would do.

"Sure, no problem! Mr. Chen, after you buy Yunsu, you'll still need a professional manager, right?"

Liao Wei agreed readily, then immediately followed up with a smile.

He knew perfectly well that once Mama Ali kicked Yunsu Forwarding aside, he'd be thrown right back to square one.

Following Chen Yansen was a different story!

One had to know — a business behemoth like Penguin had dared to invest 300 million USD in Chen Yansen without even seeing the product!

So what was there for him, Liao Wei, to hesitate about? Just follow along and ride the wave!

"You interested?" Chen Yansen looked up at Liao Wei.

He really did need someone he could trust. As for Liao Wei — if you said he had ability, he'd run Yunsu Express into the ground; if you said he had no ability, he'd made Yunsu Forwarding flourish.

Although in that latter case, Fox Tao had lent a hand.

Still, his own capability couldn't be ignored!

Chen Yansen thought it over and felt Liao Wei's execution was decent — he just lacked a pioneering spirit.

Put plainly, he could get the job done properly, but he wasn't sharp enough; he needed someone to point the way for him.

"Of course I'm interested! I want to follow Mr. Chen too. If you're willing, from now on I'll treat you like my own big brother."

Liao Wei rubbed his hands together and said with a sheepish grin.

Damn!

This guy's almost fifty and his skin is still plenty thick!

Chen Yansen inwardly spat, but in business, one must never be too concerned with saving face.

On this point, Liao Wei did it well — he could bend and stretch, and was shameless enough!

(End of chapter)