Chapter 168: Pinbei vs. Jingdong, Orange Pay Sells Out

"Kuai Pao? Got 30 million in angel funding from Senlian Capital?"

In an office in the PT district, Zhang Xuhao opened a Sohu news article, his brow instantly furrowed in regret.

He hadn't expected Chen Yansen's investment style to be so decisive.

After noticing his own small maneuver, he gave no chance for negotiation—first denied any intention to invest in Eleme, then immediately invested in a competitor website.

This clearly signaled that Chen Yansen didn't dislike the food delivery model—he just disliked Eleme.

Zhang Xuhao recalled calling Zhu Xiaohu at Jinsha Venture Capital; the man again refused to increase investment in Eleme, shattering his last hope.

"No good! We must find funding fast—if Kuai Pao expands, Eleme is in danger."

Zhang Xuhao fell silent for a moment, then made up his mind.

As he actively contacted venture capital firms, investors from Sequoia Capital, Jinsha Jiang Venture Capital, and Hillhouse Capital began studying Kuai Pao.

After all, if Chen Yansen took notice, it must have some potential.

Kang Guodong and Pei Yi, just back in Lucheng, started receiving calls from several venture firms.

But they now held only 20% equity and had 30 million in funds—they no longer worried about money, so they turned them all down.

"Old Pei, this feels amazing!"

Kang Guodong grinned at Pei Yi across from him.

"Once we take Kuai Pao public, we'll slap these people right in the face," Pei Yi said, equally pleased.

Earlier, they'd begged and pleaded with investors, begging just for a chance—even an hour to pitch their business plan—but no one listened.

After securing funding from Senlian Capital, venture firms instantly changed their attitude, treating them with overwhelming enthusiasm.

Both knew this shift came from Chen Yansen—not from Kuai Pao's own strength.

"Let's go check out Luyang District first—office rents are low there, and it's right next to the pedestrian street…"

Kang Guodong grabbed a stack of documents and pulled Pei Yi toward the school gate.

…

…

"Chen Zong, you didn't tell me the truth last time," Zhang Lei of Hillhouse Capital called Chen Yansen after being rejected by Kuai Pao.

"Zhang Zong, don't misunderstand! After you mentioned it, I had my analysts study the food delivery industry—I saw potential, so I invested in Kuai Pao."

Chen Yansen laughed heartily, telling a blatant lie.

The implication: he'd only considered investing in food delivery platforms after Zhang Lei's suggestion.

"When are you coming back to Yancheng, Chen Zong? Let's get together again," Zhang Lei said, smiling and changing the subject—he didn't really care.

He just needed to confirm Chen Yansen was interested in the food delivery sector.

"Zhang Zong, is there something else?" Chen Yansen sensed the hidden meaning and smiled in return.

"Two things: first, Hillhouse wants to invest in Pinbei; second, we want to facilitate your cooperation with Jingdong to seize Ali's market share."

Zhang Lei got straight to the point—no hiding or beating around the bush.

With someone as sharp as Chen Yansen, being direct was more efficient.

"Zhang Zong, may I ask bluntly—is this Hillhouse's idea, or Liu Qiangdong's?"

Chen Yansen didn't refuse immediately but pressed seriously.

Lately, he'd heard Liu Qiangdong was locked in fierce competition with Ali.

New Fox Taobao had scraped Jingdong's self-operated product reviews without notice, provoking a furious backlash from Liangzi Dong.

In response, Fox Taobao blocked Jingdong products, expelled Jingdong from its B2C rebate mall, and teamed up with Dangdang and Suning to isolate Jingdong.

Now, Jingdong merchants couldn't even qualify to sign up for Fox Taobao's Super Rebate event.

Remember, Fox Taobao generated 300–500 million in monthly sales for Jingdong.

This had enraged Liu Qiangdong!

"This is a joint decision by Hillhouse, Tiger Global, and DST Capital," Zhang Lei said slowly.

Hillhouse, Tiger Global, and DST had jointly invested over a billion U. . dollars into Jingdong—they naturally didn't want Liu Qiangdong to fail.

"Zhang Zong, let's put funding on hold for now—I'd like to hear the specifics of the cooperation first," Chen Yansen asked.

"Jingdong can open its C3 digital and home appliance resources to Pinbei, while Pinbei must open its food, apparel, beauty, and baby product categories to Jingdong. We can discuss the exact form later."

Jingdong can open its digital and home appliance resources to Pinaibei, while Pinaibei needs to open its food, apparel, beauty, and maternal & infant product resources to Jingdong; specific cooperation terms can be discussed gradually.

Chen Yansen silently sneered—Zhang Lei and Liu Qiangdong had played a clever hand.

Though both Jingdong and Pinbei were B2C e-commerce platforms, Jingdong combined self-operated and third-party merchants, while Pinbei was an open platform with no self-operated business.

Under Zhang Lei's proposed cooperation, once Jingdong had sifted through Pinbei's merchant resources, the partnership would collapse.

"I don't see Jingdong's sincerity," Chen Yansen refused outright.

Pinbei's biggest advantages now were Tencent's top-tier traffic entry and over 20, 00 merchant resources accumulated during the Fox Taobao period.

Taobao claimed five million sellers, but fewer than 50, 00 were core merchants—the rest were mostly C2C individuals.

Chen Yansen had always been the one taking advantage of others; Liu Qiangdong trying to pry resources from him was pure fantasy.

Zhang Lei paused, stunned—internally cursing: this kid's not easy to fool.

He thought for a moment and said, "Chen Zong, state your terms—I'll relay them to Liu Qiangdong."

That was the advantage of having a mediator—if Liu Qiangdong had come himself, the talks would've collapsed by now.

Either one side conceded, or they parted on bad terms.

"Cooperation is possible—I can even direct traffic to Jingdong—but I have two conditions: first, Jingdong's self-operated business must join Pinbei; second, add Orange Pay to Jingdong's payment module."

Cooperation is fine, and I can agree to redirect traffic to Jingdong, but I have two conditions: first, Jingdong's self-operated products must join Pinaibei; second, add Orange Pay to Jingdong's payment module.

At this time, Jingdong users had only two payment options: online banking and cash on delivery.

Half a year ago, Liu Qiangdong terminated cooperation with Zhifubao due to high fees.

But when he tried applying for a payment license, he found the difficulty had increased hundreds of times—plainly, authorities were strictly limiting license issuance.

Liu Qiangdong had been three to four years behind by missing this step.

Seeing no hope for approval, he planned to acquire a third-party payment license to build Jingdong's own payment tool.

But he was still screening acquisition targets.

Plus, developing a payment system took time—in his previous life, Jingdong Pay didn't launch until 2014.

Chen Yansen's plan was simple: Liu Qiangdong wanted to boost sales? Fine—but Jingdong must help Pinbei fill its digital and home appliance categories to raise average order value and product valuation.

Orange Pay was just an afterthought.

He was certain Liu Qiangdong would agree—he'd already realized how stupid Jingdong's cash-on-delivery model was.

Orange Pay could save Jingdong massive transaction fees and spare it the humiliation of Zhifubao's terms.

"Alright, I'll pass it on to Liu Qiangdong," Zhang Lei said promptly, hanging up without further argument.

Chen Yansen put down his phone, sat on the sofa by the window, and thought: 2011 must be an incredibly tough year for Jingdong and its backers.

Before December even arrived, Jingdong's logistics had already lost over a billion yuan, with profitability still far off.

Liu Qiangdong wanted to become China's Bezos? It wasn't that simple.

On the other side.

Liu Qiangdong sat in his office, receiving Zhang Lei's call.

Chen Yansen's position is this: treat Jingdong as a flagship store on Pinbei's mall, but require Jingdong to promote Orange Pay.

Zhang Lei summarized the key points of their conversation and handed the decision to Liu Qiangdong.

Liu Qiangdong's heart sank—he realized Chen Yansen had seen through him, but his goal had still been achieved.

As for Orange Pay, he agreed without hesitation—Jingdong's own payment tool was still nowhere near reality.

To piggyback on Pinbei's traffic, paying a price was normal.

"Zhang Zong, I have no problem," Liu Qiangdong replied immediately.

"Good, I'll push this forward—send someone to Xucheng to sign the contract and get it online as soon as possible."

Alright, I'll push this forward; send someone to Xucheng to sign the contract and get it online as soon as possible.

As Chen Yansen had predicted, Liu Qiangdong agreed to the cooperation without hesitation.

This kind of cooperation model might have seemed novel in 2011, but by the next decade, it was commonplace.

Alibaba's partnerships with Suning and Jingdong's with Yihaodian followed similar patterns.

After receiving Zhang Lei's reply, Chen Yansen assigned the cooperation to Gao Weilin and Song Yuncheng to follow up.

"Boss, partnering with Jingdong might negatively impact Pinbei's digital and home appliance merchants, hindering our own merchant development," Song Yuncheng frowned after hearing Chen Yansen's plan and voiced direct opposition.

"We're a platform—what do we mean by 'exclusive' merchant resources? Let the algorithm handle it based on sales volume, gross margin, and other metrics. Whoever sells better gets the traffic."

Chen Yansen knew merchants had no loyalty—they went wherever the profit was.

If Jingdong's digital and home appliance products could generate hundreds of millions or even billions in sales on Pinbei, the brands hiding behind them would naturally emerge, bypassing Jingdong to partner directly with Pinbei.

"I understand," Song Yuncheng stood still, thinking deeply for a long while before nodding.

If Jingdong's digital and home appliance products can sell tens of millions or even billions on Pinaibei, those brands hiding behind the scenes will actively step forward to establish cooperation with Pinaibei, bypassing Jingdong.

Chen Yansen grunted, turning to Gao Weilin.

"Still busy leasing office space and hiring, but Pei Yi recruited over twenty former employees from a collapsed group-buying site—they've got plenty of food industry connections and deep familiarity with offline expansion. Once the initial preparations are done, their growth won't be slow."

Gao Weilin smiled in reply.

As his first actual investment project, Gao Weilin naturally paid extra attention.

"Good—keep a close eye on the technical integration. Don't let anything slip."

As his actual first investment project, Gao Weilin naturally paid it extra attention.

"Alright, keep a close eye on the technical coordination—don't let anything go wrong."

Chen Yansen nodded slightly and instructed Song Yuncheng again.

With the surge in traffic for Orange Tech and Pinbei, Orange Pay urgently needed operations engineers, security experts, and risk management specialists.

Wang Xueting, Xiong Li, and Zhang Junjie had been recruiting so aggressively lately that they were obsessed with Zhifubao.

Headhunters camped outside Zhifubao's headquarters every day, stopping employees as they left work and asking, "Sir, are you considering a job switch?"

For a time, Ma Liyun couldn't take it anymore and called Chen Yansen to warn him to tone it down.

Chen Yansen promised on the surface but continued as before in secret.

After Song Yuncheng and Gao Weilin left the office, Chen Yansen picked up the weekly report on Pinbei and flipped through it casually.

User registrations reached 40 million, daily active users hit 10 million, daily orders exceeded 4 million, and daily sales neared 300 million.

Of course, Orange phone sales accounted for sixty percent of that.

In terms of actual scale, Pinbei was about one-fifth the size of Jingdong and one-twentieth the size of Taobao.

This was also the main reason Chen Yansen agreed to cooperate with Jingdong.

He didn't want to be as extreme as Pinduoduo and cap the platform's growth potential.

So from the start, he planned to use low-priced products to attract traffic and high-priced goods to elevate the platform's image, avoiding any impression of cheap, low-quality offerings.

As for product quality, the platform had a deposit system; merchants who substituted inferior goods would face harsh penalties from Chen Yansen.

Before leaving work that day, Liu Zhicheng from the marketing department of Jiushen Network called to discuss cooperation.

Chen Yansen didn't refuse; he handed it over to Song Yuncheng to handle.

Chen Yansen was happy to cooperate with platforms like Jingdong, Jiushen Network, Suning, and Guomei.

They wanted to leverage Pinbei's traffic and high conversion rate to boost sales, while he wanted to use these platforms to turn Pinbei into a comprehensive e-commerce platform.

He stepped out of the first-floor lobby, got into his car, and immediately received a message from Cao Dahua: Orange F1 is almost sold out!

(End of Chapter)