Chapter 212: 2 Billion Valuation, Kuaidao Launches in Shangcheng, Takeout War

On January 28, Chen Yansen took a car back to Xucheng.

Before leaving, he bought a detached villa for Chen Guobin outside the city, over three hundred square meters, fully decorated with all appliances, ready to move in.

In Zhao Siyuan's own words: the landlord was his friend, who had gone to Shencheng to develop, and this villa had been vacant for two years; Chen Yansen buying it was also a huge help to him.

Chen Yansen naturally did not believe it, guessing in his heart that this house was probably obtained from some developer.

But he did not mind; anyway, the purchase price matched the market price, the procedures were complete, and no one could find any fault.

As for whether Chen Guobin would live there or get used to it, Chen Yansen was too lazy to care.

On the Banghuai 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 the marketing and promotion plan for Kuaidi Dache.

Cheng Weixing planned to invite some drivers and passengers for a small-scale gray test, first collecting usage feedback, then further optimizing and adjusting, striving to ensure that the order matching algorithm and payment process stability would not have problems after launch.

At the same time, a ground promotion team was formed, providing comprehensive training for all members, ensuring that everyone was familiar with product functions and promotion scripts.

At first, Cheng Weixing wanted to hand over the offline promotion work to a third-party ground promotion company, but Chen Yansen refused.

First, he knew very well the true nature of these ground promotion companies: they did things perfunctorily, data was often faked, money was spent, but there was no effect; second, if members of the Kuaidi Dache team did not contact drivers and passengers closely offline, it would be hard to discover the users' true pain points.

Additionally, Cheng Weixing, using his identity as Executive Director of the Hangcheng University Student Entrepreneurship Alliance, easily settled matters with the top management of two local taxi companies; the other party was willing to try and promote the ride-hailing app to their own taxi drivers.

As for online promotion, Cheng Weixing did not need to worry; relying solely on the Sister Chengzi mobile app store could bring over 20 million exposures for Kuaidi Dache.

Compared to the previous life, the estimated launch time of Kuaidi Dache was a full half-year earlier.

And Did Zhang Xuhao, the founder of Didi Dache, was still serving as Deputy General Manager of the B2C Business Department at Zhifubao, with no sign of resigning to start a business.

Last December, Chen Yansen had used a headhunter to poach Did Zhang Xuhao, wanting him to join Senlian Capital to lead the Sister Chengzi Payment project group, but the other party refused.

From this, it could be seen that Did Zhang Xuhao at this time did not even have the idea of changing jobs.

But Chen Yansen knew clearly in his heart that the development of ride-hailing was unstoppable; even if Didi did not appear, there would be Dada, Gugu competing with him.

"Ele. me has secured financing!"

Meng Jie, sitting beside him, suddenly spoke up.

Chen Yansen frowned and took the phone Meng Jie handed him.

He saw the news headline read: Domestic Takeout Pioneer: Ele. me Completes Series B Financing, Will Receive 50 Million from Mama Ali.

Takeout pioneer?

Did Zhang Xuhao bought the ad himself?

Whoever is stronger, that one is the pioneer?

Thinking of this, Chen Yansen called Pei Yi and asked: "Give you half a year; if you can't kill Ele. me, hand over the CEO position to me."

"Boss, I know. Tomorrow I will take Kou Zhen and the transferred personnel to Shangcheng to seize the market."

Pei Yi heard the hostility in Chen Yansen's words and hurriedly responded.

Currently, only Ele. me and Kuaidao were large-scale takeout platforms on the market; although Kuaidao had advantages in funds and traffic, Ele. me had been entrenched in Shangcheng for four or five years; for Pei Yi to wipe out Did Zhang Xuhao in one breath would by no means be easy.

Fortunately, Pei Yi was also from Shangcheng and equally understood the local catering industry and users' ordering habits.

"That's good. Don't disappoint me."

Chen Yansen said solemnly, then hung up the phone.

'The domestic internet business circle seems to have gone completely chaotic.'

Chen Yansen thought silently.

Or perhaps the major deviation started when Mama Ali acquired Fox Tao through equity swap.

Kuaidi Dache appeared half a year early, Ele. me secured Series B financing a year early, Meituan could not emerge victorious from the Thousand Groups War for a long time...

As Chen Yansen's funds and resources increased, every move he made was changing the future's direction.

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

After all, his greatest reliance was the Torch System, not the information advantage of foreknowledge.

"Will Ele. me obtaining financing impact Kuaidao's financing and development?"

Meng Jie, seeing him silent for a long while, couldn't help but ask worriedly.

"Business competition is sometimes unavoidable; just like the Group Buying War, no matter how long it lasts, eventually a final winner will emerge."

Chen Yansen smiled faintly and said, unconcerned.

Meng Jie nodded; seeing Chen Yansen look full of confidence, she felt relieved.

At the same time.

Penguin, Sequoia Capital, and Gao Ling Capital all received the news; they also did not expect that in just a few months, the investment world's view on the takeout business model had turned one hundred and eighty degrees.

Now that Mama Ali has entered the field, the struggle between Ele. me and Kuaidao will inevitably evolve into a competition between Mama Ali and Senlian Capital.

"Martin, contact Chen Yansen as soon as possible; say Penguin is willing to give a valuation of 1.6 billion."

Ma Wenteng instructed Liu Zhiping.

Compared to the last quote, it increased by another 200 million.

"Pony, based on my understanding of Chen Yansen, the other party probably won't accept; his psychological price would need at least a 30% premium over the reasonable quote to have a chance of moving him."

Liu Zhiping shook his head and directly rejected Ma Wenteng's proposal.

"As for greed, indeed no one can compare to this kid."

Ma Wenteng paused for a moment; though unwilling to admit it, he also understood Liu Zhiping was right.

Take Penguin's investment in Pinbai; the outside world praised him for having a keen eye for talent, using only 300 million US dollars and QQ's top-tier traffic entry to secure 15% equity in Pinbai.

But who knew how much effort he expended to get the board of directors to approve this resolution.

What made Ma Wenteng fortunate was that Chen Yansen's project management ability remained astonishingly strong.

In just over two months, he pushed Pinbai's market share to the top three in the industry, seemingly about to catch up with Jingdong.

Investment institutions, based on Pinbai's current daily active users, order volume, and sales level, even gave a sky-high valuation of 6 billion US dollars.

The Penguin directors who had questioned the $2 billion valuation Ma Wenteng gave to Pinba all fell silent, no longer uttering a word.

"So, I believe a $2 billion valuation is more reasonable. If Ele. me couldn't withstand the pressure from Kuai Pao, and Kuai Pao swallowed the Shanghai food delivery market, the valuation would be far more than $2 billion."

Liu Zhiping said with a light laugh.

"You are so optimistic about the Kuai Pao project?" Ma Wenteng asked in return.

"No, no, no. I am just optimistic about Chen Yansen." Liu Zhiping adjusted his glasses frame and emphasized.

"Alright, I understand. We'll go with the price you suggested." Ma Wenteng responded, thinking it was unnecessary to delay the best timing for investing in Kuai Pao over a difference of tens of millions.

On the other side.

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

"President Chen, can the Series A financing for Kuai Pao be discussed?" Lin Chenfeng asked directly.

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

Talking to Pei Yi or communicating with Kang Guodong was useless; in the end, it still required Chen Yansen to give the final approval.

"Of course it can be discussed. The more sincere President Ma is, the higher the probability of sealing this cooperation."

Chen Yansen replied in a slow and unhurried manner.

"$200 million in funding for a 10% equity stake in Kuai Pao." Lin Chenfeng simply revealed his bottom line, handing the choice over to Chen Yansen.

"Agreed, but I have a requirement: QQ and WeChat must provide additional traffic resources for Kuai Pao. The daily exposure at the entry point must not be less than 10 million. The contract term must be at least five years. In return, Penguin enjoys priority investment rights for Kuai Pao's Series B and the right to exit early."

Chen Yansen brought out the script he had prepared long ago, signaling Lin Chenfeng to convey it to Ma Wenteng.

"President Chen, your requirement is by no means simple. It seems Brother Martin and President Ma will have a headache again."

Lin Chenfeng sighed and said with a smile.

As the investment liaison between Penguin and Chen Yansen, the biggest impression Chen Yansen left on him was that he was difficult and made many demands, but to be fair, the investment returns were also terrifyingly high.

Although Chen Yansen this time did not demand a Level 1 or Level 2 entry point, a resource slot with 10 million daily exposures was, within Penguin, an important resource that many business units fought desperately to seize.

"Then it will trouble President Lin. I await your good news."

Chen Yansen smiled; he did not care what Ma Wenteng and Liu Zhiping thought. DST Capital had no resources on the traffic end, yet he had still rejected them.

If Penguin was only willing to give money, he would reject them just the same.

Kuai Pao's development needed a large amount of capital, but it absolutely did not lack this $200-300 million.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Yansen looked up at the window; Xiao Li had already driven the car to Zhuxianzhuang Technology Park.

Although tomorrow was the first workday, inside Building 6 and Building 8, apart from some customer service and technical staff remaining on duty, quite a few investment promotion staff were already sitting at their workstations, contacting merchants and negotiating the entry process.

"Monitor, Happy New Year!" As soon as Chen Yansen got out of the car, Xu Xingxing rushed over, hands spread open, looking exactly like someone asking for a red envelope.

"No red envelopes for the start of work this year."

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

"Huh!? Monitor, no way. I came a day early just to get an extra start-of-work red envelope, and it's actually cancelled this year?"

Xu Xingxing tilted her head back and let out an "Ah," putting on a look of complete collapse.

"Tomorrow at 10:08 AM, log in to Sister Chengzi Pay on time."

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

Hearing this, Xu Xingxing's eyes lit up, and she immediately understood Chen Yansen's meaning.

Currently, the employees of Sister Chengzi Technology and Pinba combined totaled over 1,000 people; if he had to hand out red envelopes one by one, who knows when it would be finished.

Chen Yansen did not care about such formalities, so he had Sister Chengzi Pay register everyone's account information in advance; at that time, red envelopes would simply pop up on the app's homepage, which was simple and labor-saving.

On the other side.

Having secured the financing, Zhang Xuhao immediately increased subsidies for new customers and delivery fees, and placed huge advertisements at more than a dozen high-traffic subway entrances such as Xujiahui, People's Square, and Century Avenue, with the copy reading: "For food delivery, go to Ele. me."

In addition, targeted promotional posters for Ele. me were placed on portal websites such as Qiandu Search, Sina, Sohu, and NetEase, specifically for netizens with Shanghai IPs.

The funds spent solely on hard advertising amounted to tens of millions.

It must be said that deep down, Zhang Xuhao possessed an outstanding talent for "spending money."

Facing the threat from Kuai Pao, Zhang Xuhao chose to expand crazily, attempting to swallow as much market share as possible before Kuai Pao entered Shanghai.

What he did not know was that at this very moment, Pei Yi, Kou Zhen, and others were standing at the Century Avenue subway station, looking at Ele. me's lightbox advertisements.

"Tell the marketing department that Kuai Pao's advertising spots must be better positioned than Ele. me's. Cover the corridors, station halls, tops of escalators, and inside the trains completely."

Pei Yi narrowed his eyes slightly and instructed his assistant.

"Yes, Boss." The assistant hurriedly replied.

"President Kou, the ground promotion business staff from Luzhou need to quickly familiarize themselves with Shanghai's commercial centers and routes. We will first settle in Xuhui District, expanding outward from Longcao Road. Treat scattered office points as extensions of the operational scope. Additionally, we must accelerate the recruitment of local business staff."

Pei Yi then spoke to Kou Zhen again.

"No problem." Kou Zhen agreed readily.

At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, two local group-buying websites in Shanghai collapsed in one go; it was only necessary to select some outstanding business staff from the employees who left Yiqimai and G-Tuan Wang.

Eighty percent of the staff in Kuai Pao's investment promotion department came from the group-buying industry and were already well-versed in merchant expansion work.

Pei Yi knew this, so he cared more about how to build the rider team in Shanghai and how to snatch users from Ele. me.

Kuai Pao's delivery efficiency, order allocation capability, and subsidy intensity all far exceeded Ele. me's; if he couldn't win, he would have no face to continue staying in the CEO position.

(End of this chapter)