"This is Dr. Tang Xiaoou, the founder and chairman of Shangchao Technology.
This is Dr. Xu Li, co-founder and CEO of Shangchao Technology."
After the group arrived at Shangchao Technology Company located in the Hong Kong Island Science and Technology Park, Lei Dongming had been responsible for the contact between the two parties, so Lei Dongming took the lead in introducing the two parties.
"Dr. Tang, Dr. Xu, hello! I am Zhang Yida." Zhang Yida stepped forward and shook hands with Tang Xiaoou and Xu Li respectively.
Tang Xiaoou is in his forties. He wears glasses and has a professorial temperament. He looks like an old scholar. He sighed:
"Only the mainland, with its vast land and abundant resources, can produce young talents like Mr. Zhang! I have lived in Hong Kong Island for so long, and I feel that young people here may be able to do scientific research and professional managers, but very few have succeeded in starting a business!"
Zhang Yida laughed loudly, starting a business in Hong Kong Island, are you kidding me, real estate speculation or finance? There are many chaebols, housing prices are high, and there is no space for starting a business!
If you don’t want to start a business in the Mainland, then stay in Hong Kong and work as a wage earner for the rest of your life! Earn more rent and contribute to the real estate family.
Although he thought so in his heart, Zhang Yida still said modestly: "Dr. Tang, thank you for the award! I am just a businessman full of copper odor. I am not that good at academics, so I will do some small business.
But I have always supported scientific and technological innovation. Ruixiang Group also attaches great importance to the research and development of cutting-edge technology, and has invested more than 3 billion in it.
In today's globalized world, technology is changing with each passing day. I believe that the core competitiveness of an enterprise still lies in technological innovation, rather than pure model innovation."
Zhang Yida said this not only to show that he attaches great importance to science and technology, and to invest more than three billion yuan in research and development without blinking an eye, but also to lay the groundwork for the subsequent negotiations.
Talented scientists are generally very arrogant, and Tang Xiaoou is no exception. Although he praises Zhang Yida, he actually doesn't agree with him in his heart. Technical experts only obey those who are more skilled than him.
Tang Xiaoou smiled lightly: "Mr. Zhang has a big plan!"
Then Tang and Xu guided Zhang Yida and the others to the company conference room.
Xu Li also works in technology. He is much younger than Tang Xiaoou, only in his early 30s. He has a very direct personality and said straight to the point:
"Mr. Lei, you said on the phone that Ruixiang Industry Win-win Fund is interested in investing in Shangchao Technology?"
"Yes, that's what I mean. Shangchao Technology is a very excellent AI technology company, and Mr. Zhang and I both admire you very much.
So, I came here today just to talk to you two about this investment."
Lei Dongming said with a smile.
"We are not exclusive about investment. However, we have reached a preliminary investment intention with IDG. The two CEOs came a step late, but we still welcome participation in the next round of financing."
Tang Xiaoou said with a look of regret.
"Haha, haven't we officially signed the contract yet? Ruixiang is very sincere this time and provides not only funds to Shangchao Technology, but also plans to implement financial application scenarios!"
Zhang Yida didn't hide it too much, he just opened up and said it.
Xu Li and Tang Xiaoou looked at each other, a little shocked. Although the products developed by Shangchao Technology are very powerful, they have not yet reached the commercial stage.
However, commercial scenarios are an indispensable part of making AI products bigger and stronger. No matter how good or powerful the product is, if it has no commercial value, it can only be placed in the laboratory for self-entertainment.
Generate commercial value, bring revenue, the company obtains a higher valuation, and then raises money to invest in research and development. This is a positive cycle.
Tang Xiaoou asked calmly: "Oh, Mr. Zhang means to cooperate with Shangchao Technology in financial AI application scenarios?"
“Yes, Ruixiang’s positioning is not a traditional financial company, but a financial technology company, a technology company.
We currently have a number of financial technology products launched, such as Mung Bean Credit, Tiance Technology, Ruixiang Financial Cloud, and Mobao Payment.
The areas involved include personal credit reporting, risk control system modeling, financial technology output, mobile payment, etc.
AI technology can be applied in these fields. In addition, Ruixiang has also invested heavily in technology research and development in cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain, cloud computing, big data, and AI.”
Having said this, Zhang Yida smiled: "Our AI does not conflict with yours. We mainly focus on the financial field. You are a platform company. There is no contradiction between the two. On the contrary, we can strengthen cooperation and win-win for both parties."
!”
After Zhang Yida's words, both Tang Xiaoou and Xu Li were a little moved. They finally felt that Ruixiang's valuation of tens of billions of dollars was not fabricated by the media, and that Ruixiang's involvement was in more and deeper fields than they imagined.
"In this case, I will invite people from IDG to come and talk together. I am very interested in cooperating with Ruixiang."
Tang Xiaoou thought deeply. Ruixiang is a rising star. It is definitely a good thing for Shang Dynasty to cooperate with Ruixiang.
Especially in the current AI field, everyone is still in the early stages of exploring and experimenting with products. If Shangchao Technology can take the lead among its peers in commercial implementation and generate revenue, the situation will not be too good to think about.
…
The representative of IDG is stationed on Hong Kong Island and soon arrived at the Shang Dynasty Technology Office.
Tang Xiaoou came forward to communicate with him. The general meaning is: you give up some share and let Ruixiang participate. Next, we will jointly conduct financial AI research and development and implementation with them. After the product is launched, Shangchao Technology will definitely estimate
The value soars and everyone gets rich together.
After some consideration, the IDG investment representative felt that the cooperation would be beneficial, and there was really no reason to object. He also consulted with the company leaders for instructions, and finally agreed to jointly invest in Shangchao Technology with Lianruixiang.
"Series A financing of US$20 million, post-money valuation of US$100 million."
Tang Xiaoou reported his conditions.
Is the price quoted by a company that has only been established for a few months and has no revenue at all high?
This is what hard-core technology companies are like. They have to spend money on research and development first, and then talk about revenue.
With a team of PhD students, there are many internationally sensational papers in the industry, as well as products with face recognition rates as high as 99.5%.
Worth the price!
Zhang Yida directly agreed: "Okay, no problem. Once the due diligence is completed, the contract will be officially signed and the payment will be made."
The IDG investment representative still wanted to haggle over the price, but seeing how readily Zhang Yida agreed, and Shang Dynasty Technology was a very scarce hard-core technology, he had no choice but to agree readily.
Ruixiang Industry Win-win Fund and IDG each invested US$10 million in Shangchao Technology, each holding 10% of the shares.
In addition, Shangchao Technology is also preparing to move its laboratory to Beijing at the invitation of Zhang Yida and start financial AI cooperation with Ruixiang.
After the investment in Shang Dynasty Technology came to an end, Zhang Yida asked Lei Dongming to win over Kuangshi Technology and Yitu Technology.
Then Ruixiang Industrial Fund participated in Queshi Technology’s Series B financing, investing US$10 million and taking 10% of the shares.
Yimin Financial Services Group and Queshi Technology have reached a strategic cooperation to jointly develop products in the field of financial AI.
This move is a bit unethical, betting on both ends. But the financial industry is large enough. In the future, many AI companies will enter this industry to grab market share. The competition between Kuangshi and Shangchao Technology cannot be said to be too intense.
As for Yitu Technology, which focuses on the medical field, its valuation is much lower than the hundreds of millions of dollars of Kuesi and Shang Dynasty, with a valuation of less than US$50 million.
Ruixiang Industrial Fund invested US$5 million and also took 10% of the shares.
…
After entering December, other brands of shared bicycles gradually appeared on the market.
Little Blue Bicycle appeared in Pengcheng...
Motorbike worshipers appear in Shanghai...
Xiaoming Bicycle appeared in Yangcheng...
…
The business intelligence department has been keeping an eye on the market for Zhang Yida. Recently, it has been reporting to Zhang Yida every day, which city has established a new shared bicycle, and how many bikes it plans to put in that city...
Zhang Yida quickly summoned the senior executives of Huimin Bicycle and held an emergency meeting.
At the meeting, Zhang Yida said:
“It has only been three months since Huimin Bicycle was launched on the market, and already five or six shared bicycle brands on the market have followed suit and launched their own shared bicycles.
In addition, it is said that as far as I know, there are at least 10 or 20 companies that have established companies and are still urgently developing products that have not yet been launched on the market.
Let’s talk about it, what should we do next?”
He Qingxuan tilted her head and whispered:
"Why don't we start financing, build more bicycles, and overwhelm them with numbers!"
"This is also the right idea. Financing is already under discussion and will be completed before the end of this month."
Zhang Yida praised her, which made He Qingxuan very happy.
Qin Zheng thought briefly and then said:
“What Assistant He said is very good. I think it’s time to start the next round of financing.
At present, several bicycle brands are launched in several first-tier cities besides Beijing. They have noticed that our local market share is not high and have chosen to attack from our defensive weak points.
At this time, we must quickly increase the number of people-friendly bicycles in other cities.
Time must be fast! Otherwise, when they gain a foothold, it will be quite disadvantageous for us.
In addition, we have been vigorously recruiting offline dispatchers and currently have a surplus of personnel.
Not saturating the work of this group of people will also be a loss for the company..."
Qin Zheng has been working harder since he was not elected CEO of Huimin Bicycle. Now when it comes to the work of Huimin Bicycle, it is clear and logical.
Zhang Yida nodded. He had specially arranged the overstaffing. He could still afford this loss. The purpose was to train troops and prepare for the second wave of market expansion that was about to begin.
To crush other competitors, the number of bicycles alone is not enough; it also requires an offline dispatching team that is stronger than its competitors.
Huimin Bicycle CEO Huang Xiaofeng also spoke, saying:
“Currently, Huimin Bicycle operates a total of 120,000 shared bicycles, with over 3 million registered users and over 1 million daily active users.
Compared with the data from Series A financing, it has increased by nearly three times.”