Chapter 159: Xiaomi Series B Financing, Valuation 2 Billion! Pinba First Batch of Merchants

At six in the afternoon, the sky grew dim.

Chen Yansen looked at the first version of the Pinba UI style submitted by the Design Department and wore a satisfied smile.

Its functional modules were similar to Fox Tao, centered on a single-item product waterfall flow, with a category bar added to the top of the page.

The mobile end's bottom design retained only three buttons: Home, Get for Free at 0 Yuan, and Personal Center, extremely concise.

Users could set their delivery address and complete payment on the product page, supporting three methods: Sister Chengzi Pay, Alipay, and online banking.

The shopping cart, submission, and payment pages were directly cancelled, shortening the user's shopping process to the maximum extent.

After all, every extra step in the process would lose some users.

Chen Yansen's initial positioning for Pinba was a special-price group-buying website, so he could not let users have too much time to hesitate.

He attached revision opinions in the email and sent it to the Design Department.

"Knock, knock, knock—!"

A knocking sound came from outside the door.

"Come in!" Chen Yansen replied indifferently.

"Boss, I have coordinated the DST visit schedule with all departments and also found a Russian translator at the Foreign Language College."

Ye Qiuping handed over the proposal, placed it on Chen Yansen's desk, and explained.

"Alright, noted." Chen Yansen nodded, picked up the proposal and flipped through it; it was a standard investor reception schedule with no omissions.

Ye Qiuping glanced at him, then turned and left.

Ten minutes later, Chen Yansen left the office for the first floor, casually chose an Aston Martin Rapide, and drove to Xu Yuan.

His license plate had already been registered by the security guard, so he passed through smoothly all the way.

Parking the car downstairs at the faculty apartments, Chen Yansen went to the cafeteria to eat dinner first.

He originally planned to borrow a few new books from the library, but when passing the Music College, he saw a small stage set up at the entrance with a crowd of people gathered around.

Chen Yansen then remembered it was once again the annual club recruitment season, and the area below the stage was packed with junior students coming to watch legs and listen to music.

"Brother Sen, you're here to appreciate music too?"

At this moment, a familiar voice came from behind.

Chen Yansen turned around and saw Tang Zhenzhe winking, with an expression that said he understood everything.

Beside him were Song Yang, Meng Xibo, and Zhu Xiaopeng; Wang Zhengqiang was the only one missing.

"This music isn't white enough, nor long enough. You guys take your time watching; I'm going to the library."

Chen Yansen commented with a smile.

"A-Qiang went to buy beer and snacks. We plan to play poker on the lawn. Brother Sen, want to join?"

Tang Zhenzhe chuckled and warmly invited him.

Play poker?

Chen Yansen paused for a moment, realized it was a legitimate game, then waved his hand and said, "You guys play on."

After speaking, he walked toward the library.

Tang Zhenzhe watched his back, smacked his lips: "Brother Sen is indeed my Tang Zhenzhe's big shot; not only does he have money, but he also has money and loves studying so much."

After joining the Brand Department of Sister Chengzi Technology, Tang Zhenzhe finally ended his life as a simp.

Now, besides handling matters for the Class 10 News, he spent all his remaining time at the Science Park and even resigned from his position as Deputy Minister of the Student Union.

From Chen Yansen and Song Yang, he understood a truth: titles in school are worthless in society; a man must have money.

When Chen Yansen returned from the library, he indeed saw Tang Zhenzhe and the others sitting on the lawn, drinking beer and chatting idly, with a deck of playing cards scattered on the ground.

Chen Yansen walked straight toward 0418 and did not go up to join the fun.

The next morning.

After finishing the few books he borrowed last night, Chen Yansen lay on the sofa scrolling through news, quietly waiting for eight o'clock to arrive.

Today was November 1st, the salary payment day for employees under Senlian Capital again.

Unlike last month, Yunsu Express was added this time, giving him some extra anticipation.

Taobao's Double Eleven had already started its warm-up; the E-commerce Department of Sister Chengzi Technology had completed its entry into the Taobao Shangcheng last week.

The store currently has only one product, which will also participate in the promotional activities at that time.

Juhuasuan launched the slogan "Group Buy Flight Attendants," leaving Chen Yansen stunned; clicking in, he realized he had been deceived by the clickbait title.

It turned out to be a marketing campaign jointly organized by Taobao and China Southern Airlines: users spending 517 yuan to buy a bracelet could win a 1-yuan flash sale for a Mercedes-Benz Smart and the chance to have lunch with 111 flight attendants.

Regarded as the ancestor of borderline marketing, it seemed vulgar but garnered tens of millions in heat, with significant results.

The competition between Jingdong and Taobao grew increasingly fierce; Liangzai Dong shouted to Ma Liyun, "B2C will surpass Taobao within five years."

However, Ma Liyun did not respond, most likely out of disdain.

Meanwhile, Jingdong announced its participation in the Double Eleven grand promotion, clearly a retaliation against Taobao's disruption of 618.

"Next year, Pinba will also participate in 618 and Double Eleven."

Seeing this, Chen Yansen murmured to himself.

In his memory, this year's Taobao Double Eleven single-day sales broke 5 billion, an increase of 4 billion compared to 2010.

Signaling that the domestic e-commerce industry was about to rush toward its peak!

In the following ten years, both the express delivery and e-commerce industries would welcome explosive growth.

And Chen Yansen's Pinba and Yunsu were already prepared, simply waiting for the arrival of the great e-commerce era.

As soon as eight o'clock struck, streams of Human Dao Firewood began to enter the account one after another!

One minute later, Chen Yansen brought up the system panel, saw the Firewood Value, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly.

Sister Chengzi Technology, Pinba, the Sister Chengzi Mobile Phone Factory, and Yunsu Express cumulatively contributed 4,160 strands of Human Dao Firewood; adding the remaining 83 strands, the total was 4,243 strands.

Chen Yansen synthesized them into 42 strands of Divine Dao Firewood and added them to his Spirit.

After just a few breaths, his Spirit attribute rose to 11.25!

Compared to half a year ago, it looked like it had only increased by 1.25, but Chen Yansen clearly felt that the improvement in his memory and comprehension was far more than a mere 1.25.

From an energy standpoint, this 1.25 had cost over ten thousand strands of Human Dao Fire, yet when he raised his Spirit from 1.32 to 10, he had only used a little over 800 strands of Human Dao Fire — a difference of more than ten times.

Chen Yansen's learning efficiency was now even more terrifying than half a year ago. Obscure and difficult subjects like math and physics, in his eyes, were hardly any harder than '1 + 1 = 2'.

A brand-new language — he only needed to look through a dictionary once, then watch one original-language film, and he could summarize the spelling logic and grammar, thereby mastering the language completely.

It was less like learning, and more like innate talent.

This sense of understanding at a glance made Chen Yansen enjoy passing the time by engaging with new knowledge.

Meanwhile.

Lei Yi received representatives from Qiming, Temasek, and Gao Tong Capital in Yanjing, and after two days of negotiations—

Xiaomi ultimately accepted the Series B financing plan, totaling 160 million US dollars raised, at a valuation of 2 billion US dollars.

Once the news spread, Xiaomi phone sales immediately rose.

Compared with Sister Chengzi's phone, Xiaomi phones had quite a few shortcomings, but in terms of value for money, it was still an outstanding product.

At least in the 2,000-yuan price range, apart from Sister Chengzi's phone, it had almost no rival.

After Chen Yansen learned of it, he paid it no mind.

His opponent had never been Xiaomi, but Apple and Samsung.

For Chengzi Tech, this was only just the beginning.

Chen Yansen left the faculty apartment and drove to Zhuxianzhuang Tech Park.

He first went to Building 8, finished the morning meeting with Wang Teng, Gao Weilin, Zhang Cong, Zhou Ze and others, then went downstairs to Building 6, where Pinbei was located.

"Good morning, Class Monitor!" Xu Xingxing was on the first floor explaining work to the new front-desk hire Zhang Yi. Turning her head and spotting Chen Yansen, she greeted him with a smile.

Zhang Yi was a graduate of the Virtual Academy's Hospitality Management program — tall, with a pretty face — and hurriedly added, "Good morning, Boss!"

"Morning." Chen Yansen nodded and walked into the elevator.

"Team Leader Xu, does the boss have a girlfriend?" Zhang Yi asked in a low voice.

"Don't even think about it. The boss's girlfriend is right across the street at Chengzi Tech."

Xu Xingxing glanced at Zhang Yi and answered honestly, hoping to keep her from entertaining unrealistic fantasies.

Chen Yansen stepped out of the elevator and arrived at the Design Department's office area, only to find Song Yuncheng was also there.

"It's working hours — why aren't you at your post?"

Chen Yansen walked up and asked suddenly.

"Senior Jiang is starting work today, so I came to say hello." Song Yuncheng turned around, saw it was Chen Yansen, and explained with a smile.

"Hello, President Chen — we meet again." Jiang Ruoxuan was a little nervous, so flustered she could barely speak.

She hadn't expected that the freshman who had been reselling phone cards on campus a year ago had now somehow become her boss.

Honestly, given her resume, if not for Song Yuncheng's internal referral, it would have been very hard for her to get into Pinbei Tech.

"Boss, good morning!" At that moment, Design Department Director Cai Qiming came up with a smile.

He was from Taiwan, had come to the mainland five years earlier to make a living, and had previously served as Design Department Director at JD. Xiong Li had poached him with a high salary.

"Is Pinbei's product image design ready?" Chen Yansen looked at Cai Qiming and asked.

Cai Qiming spoke softly, had strong professional ability, and high emotional intelligence. Not long after joining the company, he had thoroughly figured out the backgrounds of over a dozen veteran employees.

So when Song Yuncheng internally referred Jiang Ruoxuan into the Design Department, even though Jiang Ruoxuan's design skills fell a bit short of the standard, Cai Qiming still told HR to take her.

After all, Song Yuncheng was Pinbei's Employee No. 1, brought over by the big boss from Fox Tao, and was also General Manager of the Key Client Investment Department.

That much face Cai Qiming was still happy to give.

"Boss, I made four sets of proposals and sent them to your email. If any adjustments are needed, just say the word."

Cai Qiming was familiar with how mainland bosses handled things and replied with a smile.

"Alright." Chen Yansen nodded.

Afterwards, he brought Song Yuncheng back to the office, and as soon as he sat down, he asked: "Have the group-buy items from Metersbonwe, Jiushen Wang, and Semir been finalized?"

"Forty-seven items in total, priced 5%–20% lower than the landed prices on Fox Tao. Also, Yun Su sent people to Metersbonwe's headquarters factory — from now on, for Metersbonwe orders on Pinbei, shipping via Yun Su will only cost 3 yuan minimum."

These external liaison tasks were currently all handled by Song Yuncheng.

"What about Penguin?" Chen Yansen asked again.

"All coordinated — just waiting for the product to go live." Song Yuncheng answered immediately.

"Yifeng, Yuan Wei, and Li Hui have finished talks with the local agricultural association in Xi Yue. They're starting with navel oranges as a trial: fruit under 7 cm in diameter, 3 jin for 9.9 yuan with free shipping; 7–8 cm, 3 jin for 13.9 yuan with free shipping; over 8 cm, 4 jin for 19.9 yuan with free shipping, and the 8-jin size is 36.9 yuan."

Song Yuncheng didn't wait for Chen Yansen to ask and continued reporting on the Investment Group's situation.

"What's the lowest price per jin for second-grade fruit at the source?" Chen Yansen asked after listening.

"0.6 yuan per jin." Song Yuncheng answered.

"Fruit cost is 1.8 yuan. Going through Yun Su's agricultural assistance channel, shipping is 3 yuan. A three-layer corrugated fruit box costs 2.2–3 yuan. Add in packing labor, and the total is under 8 yuan. Tell Yifeng to push the price down another 3 yuan."

Chen Yansen said after a brief moment of thought.

Chen Yansen wasn't unwilling to let the farmers earn money — rather, Pinbei's multi-SKU design was well suited to using low-priced second-grade fruit to drive traffic, while relying on higher-priced premium fruit to lift gross margin.

On the surface, not a single cent was earned, and labor costs even had to be eaten.

But Chen Yansen knew that once sales volume picked up, users who bought the low-priced small-spec items would often amount to less than thirty percent.

"6.9 yuan for 3 jin with free shipping?" Song Yuncheng was slightly taken aback, feeling Chen Yansen was squeezing the price too hard.

In 2011, e-commerce prices were nowhere near as cutthroat as they would be over a decade later — this price, dropped into the industry, would absolutely be a trump card.

(End of this chapter)