Chapter 277: Highest 3.5 Billion USD, Tiered Financing Strategy! Ma Liyun: He

In the seventh month of summer, Hangcheng was damp and sweltering after the rain, with grass and trees lush and green.

From a roadside music store came a clear voice singing: "I came from spring, you left in autumn; we promised not to be sad, but how can my heart stay unharmed…"

After its premiere on Blueberry TV, Season One of "Voice of China" exploded in popularity, rapidly becoming the most lucrative phenomenon of 2012.

Cover songs like "Obsessed for Love," "High Song," and "You Got Me Drunk" went viral, their melodies looping endlessly in shops on every street and alley.

Chen Yansen rolled down the window; a fresh breeze, mingled with the scent of earth, rushed in, while the tires crunched over the wet pavement with a soft "tap-tap-tap."

"Boss, the meeting is set for nine tomorrow morning at Jinsha Hall by West Lake," Gao Weilin whispered from the front seat.

"Xiao Li, don't go back to the hotel yet—head to Kuai's headquarters."

Chen Yansen nodded slightly and gave the driver instructions.

Xiao Li turned the car at the intersection and headed toward No. 102 Xueyuan Road in Xihu District.

Kuai's daily average orders currently stand at 1. million, with an 80% market share and considerable growth potential; besides Penguin, Ali, DST, Huake, and Jinsha Capital, Huaxin Fund, Goldman Sachs Investment, and Apple's Investment Division are also considering joining.

But Chen Yansen rejected Apple and extended invitations to Huaxin Fund and Goldman Sachs Investment.

The former can reduce Kuai's policy risks; the latter can prepare for future overseas market expansion.

Twenty minutes later, three luxury cars pulled up before Kuai's headquarters.

Cheng Weixing led a group of senior executives, all in sharp suits, standing in a line; as soon as Chen Yansen stepped out, he hurried forward.

"Boss, you've had a long journey," Cheng Weixing raised his hand to shield Chen Yansen's head, smiling warmly as he greeted him.

Chen Yansen smiled faintly and patted Cheng Weixing's shoulder. "The new headquarters is much better than before—how many employees here?"

"About four hundred, mostly in development, operations, finance, and legal; over eight hundred more are scattered across Jinling, Luzhou, Yanjing, Tangcheng, and other cities, mainly in marketing, driver management, and regional operations."

Cheng Weixing replied immediately.

"Didi completed its D-round financing of 600 million yuan—this subsidy war will last another two months. Have you heard of Pei Yi's 'Thousand People, Hundred Cities' plan?"

Chen Yansen asked casually.

As they walked and chatted, they headed toward the first-floor lobby.

"Thousand People, Hundred Cities?" Cheng Weixing paused slightly—he knew Kuai and Kuai were independent subsidiaries, and Pei Yi kept things tightly sealed, so he truly didn't know.

"Train a thousand to two thousand new hires in marketing, business, and operations, then deploy them across a hundred cities to accelerate expansion."

Chen Yansen explained slowly.

In his view, Cheng Weixing's operational skills were solid, but his expansion pace was too conservative.

Each time they added new service areas, it was at most two or three cities; at this rate, Kuai would need four to five years just to fully cover North China, East China, Central China, and South China.

"Boss, isn't that too aggressive?" Cheng Weixing frowned slightly, worried that moving too fast would create unforeseen management gaps and severely harm the project.

"Kuai started only two months ahead of Didi—every day you delay hurts Kuai more. Junlian Capital's involvement means Lenovo is now in the game—how long can you keep your advantage?"

Chen Yansen countered.

Junlian Capital was the predecessor of Lenovo's strategic investment arm and led Didi's D-round financing—clearly the Liu family also wanted a piece of this big cake.

Kuai currently holds advantages in funding, technology, and market share, but with big capital entering, Didi will soon close the gap.

A slow, steady expansion may seem safe, but it's no different from slow poisoning.

While Cheng Wei hasn't reacted yet, replicate Didi's "Thousand People, Hundred Cities" plan on Kuai—first boost daily orders.

In any future merger or restructuring, the one with the largest market share will hold the power.

"Boss, I understand," Cheng Weixing's smile vanished instantly; moments ago he'd been proud of capturing 80% market share, now his hands and feet were icy, his heart sinking into a frozen well.

He knew—he had slacked off!

Didi's funding isn't lacking; their valuation is lower, but Cheng Wei knows how to give up equity—even after losing control, he's still fighting to the death.

Is Cheng Wei stupid?

Not at all!

During Didi's A-round, Capital Today invested just two million yuan for a 20% stake; at that time, Cheng Wei's equity was worth only seven million yuan. In the D-round, valuation rose to four billion yuan; though his stake dropped from 72% to 34. %, its value soared to 1. 7 billion yuan—an increase of nearly 200 times.

Meanwhile, the "smart" people others admire, like the founder of YaoYao, obsessed with equity, repeatedly rejected Penguin and Huaxin's offers—and ended up crushed by Didi and Kuai, failing even to hit 1, 00 daily orders.

Learn to delegate, learn to leverage—only then is success possible.

Seeing Cheng Weixing understood, Chen Yansen said no more.

The group took the elevator to the 16th floor; Kuai's offices occupied the 16th, 17th, and 18th floors, each with over a hundred people.

Since it was the weekend, there weren't many employees.

"Boss, the 16th floor houses tech, product, operations, and channel departments…"

Cheng Weixing pointed to the area ahead.

"Chief Chen!"

"Boss!"

A few R&D engineers working overtime looked up at the noise, saw Chen Yansen, and immediately greeted him with smiles.

Cheng Weixing was the boss; Chen Yansen was the big boss.

They knew well that all the perks—housing subsidies, meal allowances, transport subsidies, quarterly bonuses, holiday red packets—were Chen Yansen's doing.

Compared to other internet firms, Kuai's monthly salary wasn't high, but overtime pay was never withheld; many fresh graduates in assistant or customer service roles earned only 4, 00 to 5, 00 yuan base, yet with overtime, their pre-tax income reached 7, 00 to 8, 00 yuan.

Plus, housing and meal subsidies cut daily expenses significantly.

Thus, Kuai attracted top talent in Hangcheng far better than Ali and NetEase.

"Chief Chen!"

At that moment, a young man in his late twenties called out.

Chen Yansen recognized the voice, turned, and saw an old acquaintance. "Aren't you in JD's marketing department?" He stopped and asked softly.

"You remember me?" Xiao Bing stared, mouth slightly open, eyes wide with disbelief.

He'd met Chen Yansen only once!

"Xiao Bing, planning manager, JD marketing department." Chen Yansen's spiritual sense had long surpassed 70—dozens of times a normal person's—his memory was beyond photographic.

"Chief Chen, your memory is incredible. Kuai has huge market potential and a great work environment, so I quit JD and joined Kuai."

Xiao Bing rushed to praise, but his words rang hollow—he wasn't telling the truth.

The real story: after Orange Tech poached Ye Qiuping, Liu Qiangdong appointed a new marketing director, who brought two former subordinates along.

As a "former court official," Xiao Bing was sidelined.

In short: he got blamed for overtime, never credited for success—who could endure that?

Xiao Bing endured for over half a year, then saw Kuai's job posting online and left without hesitation.

His rank was low, he had no JD stock options—so he had nothing to lose.

Chen Yansen smiled; he saw through the lie but didn't call him out. After brief pleasantries, he followed Cheng Weixing to the office.

As soon as they walked away, colleagues gathered around.

"Bing, you're amazing! You actually know the big boss?"

A marketing colleague grabbed Xiao Bing's arm, astonished.

"I used to be in JD's marketing department—back then, Chief Chen was the founder of FoxTao. He came to JD to discuss channel cooperation, and I handled his reception…"

Xiao Bing, basking in their flattery, grinned and boasted.

In the office, Cheng Weixing gestured, and his assistant handed a thick file to Gao Weilin.

"High, this contains Kuai's financial data, user operation metrics, including revenue and profit indicators, cash flow, and operational efficiency."

Cheng Weixing then hurried to brew tea for Chen Yansen and the others.

Gao Weilin accepted the file but didn't check it immediately; he handed it casually to his assistant.

"Which institution offered the highest valuation?" Chen Yansen sat down and asked calmly.

"I've spoken with contacts at Penguin, Ali, DST, Huake, and Jinsha Capital. DST offered the highest, Huake the lowest. Penguin and Ali both want to increase their stakes; Huake and Jinsha Capital are considering follow-on investment, but I doubt either will invest much—especially Jinsha."

Cheng Weixing replied, then handed over a summary sheet.

Jinsha Capital primarily focuses on early-stage investments; it occasionally joins later rounds but rarely holds significant stakes.

Chen Yansen nodded, glancing casually at the sheet.

DST offered a 3. billion USD valuation; Penguin, 3. 6 billion; Ali, 3. 8 billion; Huake and Jinsha's prices were lower, yet all exceeded 3 billion USD.

Huaxin Fund and Goldman Sachs Investment were negotiated by Gao Weilin—one offered 3. 5 billion USD, the other 3. billion USD.

Clearly, Goldman Sachs and DST offered the highest.

No wonder, over the past decade and into the future, across China's twenty-year internet boom, the largest shareholders in major internet firms were usually foreign.

What else could you do? They paid more!

Chen Yansen frowned slightly; this round differed from the A-round, when all investors' valuations were close, except Huake, which refused to pay more—but compensated with extra resources, so they reached an agreement.

Now, the gap between highest and lowest offers was 500 million USD—too much at stake to easily persuade everyone to follow his plan.

"Huaxin, Huake, and Penguin go to Gao; you handle Ali and Jinsha Capital—use a tiered financing strategy, make it clear upfront: those who refuse are out."

Chen Yansen paused a few seconds, then looked at Gao Weilin and Cheng Weixing, making his decisions swiftly.

Tiered financing splits the funding amount into parts, allowing different institutions to invest at different valuations.

In plain terms: equal rights, unequal prices—this heavily disadvantages high-bidding investors.

Chen Yansen had already planned this: Huake and Huaxin bring essential "hard needs"—policy protection, regulatory credibility—so even with lower valuations, their resource value is high.

Ali and Penguin's traffic support and ecosystem complementarity matter equally to Chen Yansen, and they also eliminate two potential rivals.

If DST and Goldman Sachs refuse, he'll choose Penguin as lead investor in the B-round, diluting foreign ownership and preemptively avoiding policy risks.

Meanwhile,

At Hangcheng headquarters, Ma Liyun and Wang Wei had just finished talking, and Ma Liyun personally saw him off to his car.

Exactly as Chen Yansen predicted: even after being warned, Wang Wei still believed Ma Liyun's claims—he couldn't resist the appeal of infrastructure sharing, synchronized industry data, and solutions to last-mile delivery challenges.

Moreover, Ma Liyun agreed to provide order support for SF Express through Taobao and Tmall, and Wang Wei immediately agreed readily.

In 2012, SF Express focused on the premium express delivery market; its revenue per parcel and overall income were high, but its volume was low—before Yunsu stepped in to disrupt the market, SF's pickup volume was lower than that of any of the "Three Speeds and One Reach."

He wanted to make money in the premium market, and he also wanted to make money in the mid- and low-end markets.

Adults never make choices—they always want everything.

SF Express offered a wide range of services: B2B express, supply chain logistics, B2C express, cold chain logistics, ultra-fast air shipments, and economical discounted express—all available.

This shows that Wang Wei's ambitions were equally large.

"Guo Changguang from Fosun Group has agreed to invest capital and will help Cainiao Logistics secure land for building large warehouses and transit hubs," Lu Zhaoxi said quietly from behind Ma Liyun.

"Fosun alone isn't enough. Wang Wei, Chen Dejun, and Yu Weijiao seem to have agreed readily, but privately, they might be watching me. I still need to partner with several other companies with strong technical foundations for warehouse management technology, bulk procurement, and data center modules."

Ma Liyun spoke calmly.

"After hearing Cainiao Logistics' plan, Zhang Zong from Fuchun Group expressed strong interest in investing. I think we should set aside time to discuss it with them in depth," Lu Zhaoxi added.

Fuchun?

Ma Liyun nodded slightly, agreeing with Lu Zhaoxi's suggestion.

Last December, he met Zhang Guobiao, who had strong influence in Jiangsu and Zhejiang—he could help Cainiao secure land for warehouses and provide massive funding to help Ali reduce investment risk.

"By the way, has Chen Yansen come to Hangzhou?" Ma Liyun asked suddenly.

(End of Chapter)