Chapter 278 Life is like a play, all depends on acting skills
The valuation of "US$6 billion" shocked the investors present.
Especially people like Futukang Zhang Quan and CITIC Industrial Fund Wei Cheng.
According to them, Huimin Travel’s valuation is only US$3 billion.
This number is twice as bad!
"Mr. Huang, are you sure you're not joking?"
Looking at Zhang Quan with a sullen expression, Huang Xiaofeng felt that the valuation was a bit false, but he still nodded bravely.
He saw that Mr. Zhang usually deceived venture capital investors in this way, offering a high valuation, and then the venture capital investors would accept the offer.
But he overestimated his influence. When Zhang Yida said this, investors did not criticize him because of his past achievements and increasing wealth and status.
But when it is Huang Xiaofeng's turn, the result is not certain!
"Mr. Huang, do you think we are your enemies?"
Wei Cheng sneered twice, "Financing is not so easy. Everyone has to trust each other.
With your Huimin Bao’s inflated valuation, I don’t think there is any need to discuss it!”
"That is, Huimin Travel's valuation has increased several times in the past, but it was in the early days and the base was low, only tens of millions or hundreds of millions.
Now it’s billions! It’s still rolling up and down. It’s too high!”
Zhang Quan also shook his head repeatedly.
Lan Lan knew it was time for her to speak, and she said: "Mr. Huang, Huimin Travel's data volume has soared in the past six months.
Coupled with the launch of a taxi-hailing platform. If Green is included, I basically agree with the valuation of US$6 billion.
Excluding Green, I think $5 billion is a more appropriate number."
Other investors felt that 5 billion was a bit too high, so they all looked at Lan Lan with strange looks, and then looked at Huang Xiaofeng.
You both have the same boss, so why don't you just play double act for us?
Seeing that Lan Lan and Huang Xiaofeng both looked normal, other investors were also a little undecided.
In their view, by removing Green and adding a taxi-hailing function, people-friendly travel has increased and decreased, and the valuation is defensible based on 4 billion.
In addition, considering Huimin Bicycle's far-leading market share in the country, it is okay to offer premiums to certain leading companies.
In short, US$4 billion to US$5 billion is an acceptable valuation range.
However, if the price can be lowered to 4 billion, why pay 5 billion?
"Mr. Lan, I don't agree with your point of view."
Zhang Quan looked at Lan Lan and said this, and then added: "If nothing else, Huimin Travel is still carrying a debt of 1 billion US dollars."
"Those debts can just be offset by the shared bicycle assets. In addition, our bicycle repair centers across the country and the dispatched trucks are net assets."
Huang Xiaofeng spread his hands and shrugged and said, "Besides, who in an Internet company looks at the total assets?
Mr. Zhang, maybe you have been in Futukang for a long time and your concept is closer to traditional enterprises."
Zhang Quan was ridiculed by Huang Xiaofeng and felt a little angry. He wanted to withdraw from the financing negotiation.
But his reason told him that if he withdrew from this financing, he would have no good fruits to gain.
So I clenched my fists tightly, but in the end I didn't let out my anger. I took a long breath and said, "We Futukang only recognize Huimin Travel's valuation of US$4 billion."
"We at CITIC Industrial Fund also believe that US$5 billion is too high and US$4 billion is more reasonable."
Penguin's Ren Yu is firmly on Diaoyutai, whether it is US$4 billion or US$5 billion, it will have little impact on Penguin.
Originally, Penguin held shares in Huimin Travel, with a considerable share of 7.68%.
The valuation was more than US$1 billion, and Penguin's book return was US$76.8 million more. However, Penguin's investment in this round of financing "lost" again.
One increase and one decrease have little practical significance for penguins.
Therefore, he is very Buddhist during negotiations, occasionally interjecting a few words.
Huang Xiaofeng really wanted to throw out the weapon of "betting", but Zhang Yida told him that even if the valuation was lower, he could no longer sign a betting agreement.
Regarding shared bicycles, Zhang Yida has realized how powerful it is, and now he has no confidence in betting on it.
Zhang Yida's bottom line for Huang Xiaofeng is US$4.5 billion. As long as it is not lower than this pre-money valuation, he can sign a financing agreement.
But Huang Xiaofeng knows that this is a test for himself, and US$4.5 billion is just the passing line.
If you strive for an additional $100 million, you will earn more performance.
So Huang Xiaofeng showed great restraint and slowly began to negotiate the price with several investors.
"In addition to aggregating taxis and ride-hailing services, Huimin Travel will also consider launching a private car service in the future.
In addition, Ruixiang Investment and Finance will open traffic entrances for Huimin Travel.
Coupled with WeChat’s Jiugongge and the Huimin Travel APP with 100 million users.
We are no weaker than Didi in terms of traffic."
Huang Xiaofeng knew that the “shared bike” story could no longer support Huimin Travel’s ultra-high valuation.
Therefore, investors’ thinking is brought to the field of “big travel”.
The effect is of course very useful.
Wei Cheng from CITIC Industrial Fund got excited and asked: "Will Huimin Travel launch its own brand of online ride-hailing in the future?
It's not a taxi ride, it's like Didi Express."
Didi currently has 250 million users and is also connected to WeChat Jiugongge. In addition, after the merger of Didi and Kuaidi last year, Kuaidi's shareholder Ali also became a shareholder of Didi.
So Didi connected to Paybay again.
In terms of turn-taking, Huimin Travel is actually slightly weaker than Didi Travel.
However, Wei Cheng saw Didi’s valuation of more than 20 billion US dollars. If Huimin Travel can secure the second place, the valuation can definitely reach more than 10 billion US dollars!
In particular, Uber is still rampant in the Chinese market, and Didi has not yet fully determined its dominance.
Therefore, Wei Cheng believes that there are some opportunities for Huimin Travel. As long as we seize the opportunity, we will definitely capture a part of the online ride-hailing market.
Thinking of this, Wei Cheng felt a little hot in his heart, maybe he would hit a big fish this time.
However, Wei Cheng still had to pretend to be relatively calm on his face to avoid being ripped off by Huimin Travel.
Huang Xiaofeng also raised the questions raised by Wei Cheng to Zhang Yida.
Huang Xiaofeng served as the general manager of Uber Shanghai in 2014, so he is no stranger to online ride-hailing and has always been passionate about this industry.
However, Zhang Yida did not agree with the launch of his own express car brand, and only wanted to be an aggregated taxi-hailing platform.
Zhang Yida has given more thought to Didi's success last year. From the moment it merged with Kuaishou, Ali and Penguin began to be backed by the two giants.
The pitfalls of shared bicycles have not yet been filled, and Zhang Yida does not want to continue to dig holes.
Especially when he knew that Didi was going to merge with Uber this year and start a road of annual losses of tens of billions that would last for many years.
It’s not worth it! Zhang Yida believes that he has made too many enemies and cannot continue to expand without limit. He must learn to make trade-offs.
Huang Xiaofeng answered ambiguously: "The launch of our own express brand will inevitably lead to a fierce collision with Didi.
Internally, we plan to start by aggregating taxi-hailing platforms and ride-hailing businesses, slowly cultivating user habits and accumulating operational experience.
Then we will launch special cars and driver services.
As for the express train, you have to do it later because it is the most difficult and the most competitive."
Wei Cheng nodded, guessing that this was Zhang Yida's strategic plan.
He had long heard comments from others such as "Although Zhang Yida is young, his strategic vision is very advanced."
Today I have experienced what it means to work step by step and work steadily.
It has 300 million traffic platforms including Touronghui, WeChat and Huimin Travel, but it is not arrogant and blindly starts all-round competition with Didi Travel.
Instead, it used its own advantages to switch from the ride-hailing business, which Didi has less control over, to online ride-hailing.
Then gather a group of online ride-hailing guys to build an aggregated ride-hailing platform.
Wei Cheng guessed that this must be Zhang Yida's conspiracy.
Once these guys have raised the user traffic of Huimin Travel, they will definitely be kicked out, and he will take advantage of the trend to launch his own online car-hailing brand!
Typical borrowing the chicken to lay the egg!
High! Really high!
Wei Cheng felt that he was too smart, and through some clues, he analyzed Zhang Yida's comprehensive strategic layout.
He guessed that if he went to inform Chen Wei now, the latter might treat him like a national scholar.
However, Wei Cheng knew that he would not do this. After all, he was a manager of a venture capital institution with professional ethics.
In fact, Wei Cheng was afraid that if he reported it, CITIC and Zhang Yida would block him and make him look bad.
Since you can't tell the truth, you must catch Huimin's trip that is about to take off.
Wei Cheng thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Huang, let's do this! CITIC Industrial Fund has raised the valuation of Huimin Travel to US$4.5 billion.
In addition, we have a small request. This round of financing will be led by CITIC Industrial Fund."
Zhang Quan secretly called Wei Cheng "idiot", didn't we agree to lower the price together? Why did you suddenly increase the price and lead the investment? Did you take the wrong medicine?
But Zhang Quan didn't know that Wei Cheng had a flash of inspiration and felt that he had made a major discovery. He was fighting to increase the valuation and win more Huimin Travel shares.
Huang Xiaofeng also relaxed his tone a little and lowered the valuation by US$500 million, but still insisted on a price of US$5.5 billion.
Wei Cheng's change of tone was very strange, and Lan Lan guessed that something about what Huang Xiaofeng said must have touched him.
To add US$500 million in one go and to have the right to lead the investment shows that we are very optimistic and want to get it.
Lan Lan decided to give him a good assist. She expressed her position: "Mr. Huang, Ruixiang can give the highest price of US$5 billion, but we must lead the investment."
Then Lan Lan pretended to be a little angry and looked at Wei Cheng, and said: "Mr. Wei, you are a little unreasonable. Didn't you agree that Yu Rui will lead the investment?"
Wei Cheng laughed dryly and said, "Mr. Lan, you Ruixiang family has a great cause, so don't worry about one or two projects like this!"
This time you let CITIC Industrial Fund lead the investment, and we owe you a favor."
"Okay, since Mr. Wei said so, I will also sell you a favor.
How about this, we each get half the share."
Speaking of this, Lan Lan looked at Huang Xiaofeng again and said, "But the final decision lies with Mr. Huang. He has the final say."
“I still say what I said, with a valuation of US$5.5 billion, this round of financing only raised US$500 million.
Shared bicycles are almost saturated. If we don’t launch special bikes in the future, this will almost be the last round of financing for Huimin Travel.”
If Lan Lan and Wei Cheng share the financing equally, other investors will be restless.
Penguin's Ren Yu was the first to jump out and said: "Penguin must participate, and we will also offer a valuation of US$5 billion."
Seeing that everyone was taking action, Temasek and PBC also raised their prices, saying that they could not be excluded.
Seeing that everyone was raising their prices, Wei Cheng gritted his teeth and raised the valuation from 4.5 billion to 5 billion US dollars in order to seize the financing share.
He believes that the valuation increase of just US$500 million is nothing. Based on a 5% shareholding ratio, it is only US$25 million.
As long as Huimin Travel grows into the second largest travel platform after Didi, sooner or later the money will be earned back with interest.
Huang Xiaofeng is still a little dissatisfied and has been holding on to the US$5.5 billion.
Other investors, including Lan Lan, were unwilling to increase the price. After some hard talking, Huang Xiaofeng pretended to be reluctant and agreed.
After the valuation was settled, everyone started talking about shares again.
The financing share of only US$500 million, calculated based on US$5.5 billion after investment, is less than 10%, which is not enough.
Wei Cheng requested that CITIC Industrial Fund must lead the investment, and Lan Lan also said that it should not be less than CITIC Industrial Fund, and should hold at least 5% of the shares.
Penguin wants to increase its stake to more than 10%, and Temasek, which is rich and not short of money, has also stated that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to invest.
Futukang's presence is relatively low, and it would be satisfied with only 1%.
When everyone adds up, the US$500 million financing amount is simply not enough.
They also put pressure on Huang Xiaofeng to increase the financing amount.
In the end, Huang Xiaofeng called Zhang Yida again and finally set the financing amount at US$1 billion.
Ruixiang and CITIC Industrial Fund each led the investment with US$300 million, followed by Penguin with US$240 million, Temasek with US$100 million, and Futukang with US$60 million.
After completing Series C financing of US$1 billion, Huimin Travel’s post-investment valuation will reach US$6 billion.
Not counting the US$1 billion in debt financing, the total equity financing alone totaled US$1.98 billion.
A typical unicorn that uses capital as a ripening agent to ripen.
In addition, Zhang Yida’s equity will drop again, to 29.78%;
Penguin replaced Blackshirt Capital and became the second largest shareholder holding 10.4% of the shares.
In addition, Huimin Travel will reach a strategic cooperation with Futukang and place orders for a new generation of Qingqi bicycles, which cost 500 yuan, to Futukang.
The quantity is 3 million vehicles, and the total order amount reaches 1.5 billion yuan.
Boss Guo still knows how to do business, and he probably made back the US$60 million he invested in the company.
However, orders are not so easy to receive. As a concession, Futukang also provided a one-year interest-free loan of 1.5 billion yuan.
In other words, the production payment can be deferred for one year.
In addition, Futukang has to provide free shipping and deliver the produced bicycles to all parts of the country to help people travel.
If you do this, will Futukang still make a profit?
Zhang Yida guessed that there must be some, after all, Boss Guo is so good at doing business, every employee can bring out the best value, and no one can compare with him in controlling costs.