Chapter 279: 500 Million U.S. Dollars! Liu Zhiping: Those Being Freeloaded On Don

Hangcheng, Jinsha Hall by West Lake, lush front garden.

Chen Yansen strode forward, followed closely by Gao Weilin, Cheng Weixing, and Song Yuncheng, along with six experienced finance and legal staff.

Regarding the valuation of Kuai's Series B funding, though every institution submitted a quote, coordinating equity allocation and locking in long-term interests for all parties still requires a thorough negotiation process.

Just as he reached the banquet hall entrance, Chen Yansen spotted Ma Liyun outside.

At the same moment, Ma Liyun saw him too.

Both men's faces tightened, then they exchanged a smile.

As expected, Ma Liyun was a pure businessman; as long as Sunlian Capital and Ali still had intertwined interests, he wouldn't break ties with him.

Besides, he had merely refused to join Cainiao Logistics—nowhere near enough to make the e-commerce giant hold a grudge.

Take Ding Lei: NetEase and Ali's conflicts ran far deeper, yet when they met by chance at a bar last time, Ma Liyun still greeted him warmly.

Seven years later, Ali spent two billion U. . dollars to acquire NetEase's Kaola.

This proves Ma Liyun's principle: no personal ties, only interests.

"Congratulations, Chen Zong, Pinbei has surpassed Jingdong in daily active users and sales data," Ma Liyun hesitated slightly, then stepped forward with a smile.

"Thank you, Ma Zong. Compared to Taobao, Pinbei still has plenty of room to grow," Chen Yansen replied with a faint smile.

Ma Liyun's words were effectively saying: I've noticed Pinbei's threat to Taobao.

But Chen Yansen didn't care—business always has competitors.

Every niche market is like the Hundred Group Battle, with thousands of competitors large and small; only by defeating most of them can you establish yourself in the industry and earn the right to share in the victory.

Even Ali itself first defeated Huicong and eBay, then Jingdong, before becoming the dominant force in China's e-commerce industry.

Yet after removing Pinbei, Jingdong, Suning, Guomei, Dangdang, and Yixun, there are still over a thousand e-commerce competitors in the domestic market.

Every moment, they vie with Ali for market share.

Can Ma Liyun possibly fight them all?

"The burn-to-secure-market strategy is too capital-intensive. Only five months have passed since Series A, and 90 million U. . dollars are nearly gone. Chen Zong, Kuai's expansion pace must accelerate, or rivals will catch up."

Ma Liyun smiled, dismissing Chen Yansen's words, and instead steered the conversation toward Kuai's marketing rhythm.

"Don't worry, Ma Zong. I know what I'm doing," Chen Yansen replied.

The current daily promotion cost of over ten million U. . dollars was exhausting all investors.

The first time, Li Yanhong refused to negotiate; the second time, Chen Yansen refused.

In fact, Ma Liyun had already consulted with Zhu Xiaohu, Yu Heng, and others: they'd tolerate one more month at most; if Kuai and Didi still hadn't settled the outcome, they'd force negotiations to end the subsidy war.

"Chen Zong, Ma Zong, why are you both standing at the door?"

At that moment, Zhou Shouzhi and a middle-aged man in a light gray pinstripe suit walked over together.

"Who is this?" Chen Yansen turned, sizing him up, and asked Zhou Shouzhi.

"Chen Zong, pleasure to meet you! I'm Cai Yongjin, General Manager of Goldman Sachs Asia. I previously communicated with your company's Gao Weilin over the phone."

Cai Yongjin shook Chen Yansen's right hand with a smile.

"Mr. Cai, I've long heard of your reputation. Let's go inside and talk at leisure."

As he spoke, Chen Yansen observed him closely.

Cai Yongjin was in his early fifties, wearing rimless glasses, his gaze sharp and penetrating; having held the position of General Manager at Goldman Sachs Asia for over a decade as a Chinese, his capabilities were evident.

"No problem."

Cai Yongjin nodded, then exchanged brief pleasantries with Ma Liyun and Gao Weilin.

As they walked and chatted, they entered a luxurious, exquisitely decorated banquet hall.

Yu Heng from Huake Capital and Zhu Xiaohu from Jinsha Ventures immediately rose and hurried over upon seeing Cai Yongjin.

"Chief Cai, what brings you here?" Zhu Xiaohu bowed his posture, smiling warmly.

After all, in investment banking, Cai Yongjin was his senior—he hadn't even entered university when Cai had already joined Morgan Stanley as a senior investment manager in project financing.

"Naturally, to participate in Kuai's Series B funding. Your performance over the past two years has been impressive, with great progress."

Cai Yongjin praised.

Normally, projects he personally handled were in oil, power, and automotive sectors; while Goldman Sachs had dabbled in internet firms like Kuai, the responsible personnel were merely junior investment managers.

Yu Heng, watching Cai Yongjin, once again upgraded his assessment of Kuai's value and potential.

Everyone sat down. Chen Yansen glanced around and noticed Tencent's representative hadn't arrived yet.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Liu Zhiping, Lin Chenfeng, and others entered swiftly through the door.

"Sorry, held up a few minutes on the way," Liu Zhiping greeted everyone.

"Since everyone is here, Chen Zong, why not share your thoughts? I assume you've reviewed all the investment institutions' quotes."

Cai Yongjin leaned back and asked bluntly.

"Huake and Jinsha Ventures offered the lowest bids. My bottom line is 3. billion U. . dollars. Below that, I can only apologize."

Chen Yansen lifted his eyelids slightly, meeting everyone's gaze, speaking calmly.

He meant: either Huake and Jinsha Ventures withdraw, or raise their offer to 3. billion U. . dollars.

Although Yu Heng's first bid was just over 3 billion, that didn't mean his authority was capped there—he could certainly approve a 200-million-dollar fluctuation.

Zhou Shouzhi and Cai Yongjin exchanged a glance, instantly realizing their bids were the highest.

But from Chen Yansen's demeanor, it was clear he didn't want to lose Huake and Jinsha Ventures; even knowing Goldman Sachs and DST's offers, he still accepted a minimum 3. -billion-dollar valuation.

This is a smart, big-picture young man!

Cai Yongjin silently evaluated.

Fundraising is essentially exchanging equity for capital and resources; many founders fall into the trap of "choose whoever offers the highest valuation," often ignoring whether the equity structure supports sustainable growth or whether VCs can bring hidden resources for business expansion.

In both aspects, Chen Yansen's handling was extremely astute.

During Series A, Sunlian Capital brought in five investors at once, dispersing equity; aside from Tencent and Ali holding slightly higher stakes, DST, Huake, and Jinsha Ventures each held between 2% and 3%.

Chen Yansen had zero concern about losing control due to excessive equity dilution.

After hearing Yu Heng's reply, Zhu Xiaohu felt all eyes turn toward him; after brief thought, he nodded.

Gao Weilin had warned him beforehand: this round would use tiered or phased financing to resolve inconsistent bids.

For Huake and Jinsha Ventures, 3. billion U. . dollars was their limit.

As for the gap, Yu Heng and Zhu Xiaohu must compensate with additional resources—or Chen Yansen would kick them out anyway.

"Given differing bids, Kuai's Series B funding will adopt a tiered financing approach; the difference from the highest valuation may be paid through industry resources, management support, talent networks, and capital ecosystem contributions."

Chen Yansen spoke slowly.

This arrangement wasn't fair to DST and Goldman Sachs, but what could they do? As foreign investors, they couldn't offer policy advantages to Kuai.

For example, Huake Capital offered the lowest bid in Series A, yet it effortlessly secured authorization documents from transportation associations in North, East, and South China, enabling Kuai to roll out top-down promotion in the taxi industry.

On the driver side, Kuai's dominance over Didi was impossible without Huake Capital's assistance.

Tencent and Ali are the same: if you can't offer price, you must offer resources.

"I have no objections," Zhou Shouzhi spoke first.

Even if he refused, Chen Yansen would still use phased financing to disperse equity: accepting funds from the consensus valuation first, then opening the next phase after the earlier investors finalized their terms.

Effectively splitting Series B into multiple rounds.

In essence, no difference—that's why Chen Yansen stated it openly.

"Fine, but the valuation of additional resources must be agreed upon by all parties," Cai Yongjin adjusted his glasses and said firmly.

Whether tiered or phased financing, both are common in investment; as long as all parties accept, there's no major issue.

Seeing that the two highest bidders agreed, Chen Yansen relaxed and instructed Gao Weilin and Cheng Weixing to negotiate separately with each investor.

Sunlian Capital's accompanying financial analysts distributed Kuai's financial health data—revenue structure, costs, profits—to each investor's finance team for review.

With the broad direction set, the rest of the negotiations became routine.

Ma Liyun invited Cai Yongjin, Chen Yansen, and others downstairs to the octagonal pavilion for tea, leaving contract details to subordinates.

As they left the banquet hall, Liu Zhiping approached and asked: "When will Pinbei's Series B funding begin?"

"Liu Zong, you know Pinbei isn't short on cash," Chen Yansen replied with a smile.

He knew it was almost certainly Ma Wenteng who was anxious.

The traffic-entry agreement between Pinbei and Tencent had been signed for only one year; with the contract expiring soon, Ma Wenteng wanted to extend the traffic resources in exchange for deeper integration.

"What about Tencent's primary traffic entry points—WeChat and QQ?" Liu Zhiping pressed, certain Chen Yansen couldn't resist.

"It's a bit embarrassing to keep freeloaded off Tencent's free traffic," Chen Yansen said, yet his face showed no trace of embarrassment.

Liu Zhiping sneered—Chen Yansen's lies meant nothing to him. The one being freeloaded doesn't mind, so why are you pretending to be wronged?

He asked again: "Tencent can only offer capital and traffic. What else do you want?"

"Add Orange Pay into WeChat's ecosystem entry points," Chen Yansen stopped walking and replied with a smile.

Orange Pay?

Liu Zhiping chuckled, shaking his head: "Pony won't agree unless you sell Orange Pay to WeChat or let Tencent take a controlling stake."

"Then swap it: add Kuai and KuaiRun to the primary traffic entry points," Chen Yansen said calmly.

"..." Liu Zhiping pointed at Chen Yansen, unable to suppress a laugh—he realized Chen was playing a "broken window" game of feinting forward. He grumbled: "You're greedy!"

"Tencent is also a shareholder of Kuai and KuaiRun," Chen Yansen said.

"Only one among many—not even a major shareholder. If you give Tencent more equity, Pony can explain it to the board."

After scolding, Liu Zhiping began seriously considering the proposal.

"How much is 'more'?" Chen Yansen asked.

"That depends on your sincerity," Liu Zhiping replied.

Walking behind the group, they reached a preliminary agreement within minutes.

Penguin wanted to invest more money, and Chen Yansen had no reason to stop them.

Whether in food delivery or ride-hailing, the initial costs to cultivate the market and train users reached billions, even tens of billions—the more deep-pocketed fools, the better.

Over the next two days, Chen Yansen either visited NetEase or was a guest at Ali's headquarters.

Only on the afternoon of the last day of July did all investment institutions finalize all contract details with Senlian Capital.

Formal signing, fund transfers, and other procedures still required another half-month to a month, as each company's internal processes varied in speed.

But Chen Yansen wasn't in a hurry; the public account of Kuai Di Taxi still had nearly $200 million in funds, enough to sustain operations until the next payment arrived.

Meanwhile,

Li Yanhong in Yanjing had long received the news; upon learning that Kuai Di Taxi's Series B funding reached over $500 million, he immediately frowned.

At the current subsidy war trend, monthly cash burn was 300 million yuan—Kuai Di Taxi could still last another year.

What about DiDi?

Would Junlian Capital be willing to continue investing and keep it afloat?

That evening, Cheng Wei learned of the outcome and his heart sank—he felt sudden, crushing pressure.

(End of Chapter)