Today, Zhang Yida and Lei Dongming drove to AVIC Building in Haiding District.
As soon as I went upstairs, I saw Zhang Ming who had been waiting at the front desk for a long time.
Zhang Ming is about 30 years old, wearing a black sweatshirt and gold-rimmed glasses. He is not tall and looks thin and small, with a gentle temperament. You can tell at a glance that he is a technical background.
Zhang Yida and Lei Dongming went up to say hello to Zhang Ming and shook hands.
Zhang Ming didn't talk much, so he took the two of them to the company directly.
After Zhang Yida joined Toutiao Company, he looked around and found that the office area was quite large, with more than 100 programmers sitting in the open office area, all working hard.
In addition, the decoration of the office is also very simple. Without fancy things, I painted the walls, placed tables, chairs, and some green plants and potted plants.
The first feeling this company gave Zhang Yida was "pragmatic and not exaggerated."
Zhang Ming took the two to his office, sat on the sofa, and asked the administrator to serve two cups of hot tea.
Zhang Ming spoke first: "This time I invited the two of you here, mainly because I heard a colleague conveying that your company is interested in investing in headlines. Is that true?"
Lei Dongming smiled and said, "Yes, we do intend to invest in Toutiao. Today we are here to talk to you about this matter."
Zhang Ming nodded and asked again: "Is Rui Xiang who has contributed as an investment entity?"
Lei Dongming did not answer the conversation and looked at Zhang Yida.
Zhang Yida actually wants to use Ruixian as an investor, but because of his lack of money, he can only bring up a venture capital fund to enjoy this high-return dividend.
Ruixiang Investment, he is a major shareholder and can earn most of the profits. For venture capital, it is the 20% management fee, and Big Tou helps investors make money.
But it is not without benefits. After two or three years, after several small giants showed their power, the venture capital funds they run will be in the limelight. Raising funds and investing again is as simple as drinking water.
When waves, investors are rushing to invest. The investment target will also make valuation concessions and expand share supply because it is a famous venture capital. In short, there are many benefits.
On the way here, Zhang Yida thought about all this, and didn't worry, and replied directly: "I formed a new venture capital fund to invest in headlines in the name of venture capital funds."
After hearing this, Zhang Ming began to think about it. He thought that it was Ruixiang who invested in Toutiao, but he thought that he could strengthen cooperation with Ruixiang in the financial field in the future. If it was a venture capital investment, as long as he could afford to pay, it would be fine!
Zhang Ming replied with a smile: "Venture investment is OK, and the results are the same. But I thought it was Ruixiang who invested before, and thought that Toutiao could also strengthen cooperation with Ruixiang in the financial field in the future."
Zhang Yida understood as soon as he heard this, probably because he wanted to invite Ruixiang's subsidiaries to enter Toutiao to produce financial content for them, and cooperate with traffic and advertising.
So he smiled and said, "This is no problem. I will arrange for the following to dock, content, traffic, and advertising to cooperate with you later."
Zhang Ming also agreed happily: "Okay, that's such a pleasant decision. Let's talk about venture capital matters next!"
Then, as a senior investment expert, Lei Dongming began to ask some questions, and he asked and Zhang Ming answered.
Q: "How many users are there in Toutiao?"
Answer: "Toutiao activates 100 million users, with more than 30 million monthly active users."
Question: "There are many APPs on the market at present. How can Toutiao stand out from it?"
Answer: "Toutiao has entered the second phase of rapid development after exploring the value of the product in the first phase and improving the product form.
Unlike the previous first stage that emphasized algorithm training, Toutiao has begun to focus on product functions and optimize user experience at this stage.
The main purpose of a large number of new content presentation and distribution methods is to help users obtain information more accurately within Toutiao products and improve user retention and usage time.
In terms of content, Toutiao has also begun to add new channels. At the same time, in terms of traffic acquisition, it supports more traffic acquisition methods, such as sharing on QQ, WeChat Moments, etc., to help Toutiao quickly obtain traffic.
These content, recommendations and traffic import methods have laid the foundation for Toutiao's rapid growth.
Next, Toutiao will enter a period of rapid growth, leaving all its opponents behind."
Question: "In addition to algorithms, content, and traffic, do Toutiao have any other killer weapons?"
Answer: "Toutiao has established a largest growth hacker team in China, and it is currently the top hacker growth team in the country.
The current products and operations are actually driven by the growth team. Technology is another advantage for us.”
...
Lei Dongming asked a series of questions, and Zhang Ming answered them one by one.
Lei Dongming glanced at Zhang Yida and signaled that he had finished asking.
Zhang Yida looked at Zhang Ming with a smile, gestured a "1" and said, "There is another last problem. Toutiao has always relied on crawling algorithms to capture content. You do not produce content, but only distribute content. How to solve the content copyright issue?"
Zhang Ming's face was a little unnatural, and he was silent for a long time, then said, "Money, as long as there is money, I will bring them into the platform and share the advertising fee together, from opposition to cooperation. When everyone's interests are consistent, there will be no copyright disputes.
Now.”
Zhang Yida's mouth was raised, and major media copyright companies in the previous life began to sue Toutiao, demanding Toutiao pay the copyright fee.
The final solution was discussed with major media companies, and invited media companies to settle in Toutiao accounts, so that everyone can make money together.
Since 2015, Toutiao has also undergone a big change, growing from a content distribution platform to a content production platform.
And Toutiao began to meet WeChat official accounts, machine distribution vs social distribution.
At the same time, in order to solve the content-side supply problem, Toutiao released a plan to support 1,000 Toutiao accounts.
Later, Toutiao account added original content and reward functions to help content creators gain greater benefits.
Through these methods, Toutiao laid the foundation for takeoff and completed the fish jumping to the gantry.
Zhang Yida leaned back, raised his legs and looked at Zhang Ming and said, "Then talk about the valuation!"
Zhang Ming helped PuliGlasses and said: "Toutiao has experienced three rounds of financing so far, from 5 million yuan in the angel round to 1 million US dollars in the A round, and then to 10 million US dollars in the B round in September last year."
He paused and looked at Zhang Yida and continued: "At present, we want to expand our team and market size, and are seeking US$100 million in Series C financing. Dilute 10% of the shares at a post-investment valuation of US$1 billion."
Without any hesitation, Zhang Yida agreed directly and said, "OK, we've voted."
Zhang Ming and Lei Dongming were both a little surprised. Don’t you bargain?
As if they understood what they were thinking, Zhang Yida smiled faintly and said, "I am optimistic about Toutiao's future and Brother Zhang Ming. We have boarded this train."
Next, the two parties communicated the details well, organized due diligence, and signed an investment agreement after confirming that there were no problems.
Huayi Capital invested in Toutiao with US$100 million, accounting for 10% of the shares.
The first period of funds will be immediately received, the second period of funds will be 3 months later, and the third period of funds will be 40 million US dollars will be 6 months later.
Zhang Ming did not express any objection, and it is normal for venture capital to be received in batches.
In fact, Zhang Yida has no money here. So far, he has only raised 60 million US dollars, and half of it was removed in one go.
Zhang Yida and Lei Dongming founded Huayi Capital, and the first dollar fund has only raised $60 million.
Yimin Wealth helped sell on behalf of others raised $20 million and commissioned other third-party wealth management companies, such as Noah sold $20 million. Lei Dongming used his past experience to raise $20 million from a parent fund, totaling $60 million.
.
The two people's shares in Huayi Capital are also divided according to the amount of funds raised, Zhang Yida 66.7%, and Lei Dongming 33.3%.
Taking the remaining 30 million US dollars, the two went to Didi again.
Chen Wei's face is round, a little fat, and with his eyes, he looks quite honest and honest.
At this time, he was fighting hard to solve the problem and was in a big battle to burn money. Looking at the investors who came to him, it was a warm welcome.
As an expert, Lei Dongming continued to ask questions, and Chen Wei also answered them one by one.
Everything went smoothly, and the main problem was stuck on the scale of financing.
Chen Wei said firmly: "Didi has experienced 4 rounds of financing, and my shares account for less than 50%. I can only release 5% of the shares in this C+ round of financing."
Zhang Yida was a little dissatisfied, just to buy more while you are still cheaper now, and you told me that you would sell less, that wouldn't work.
Zhang Yida said with a tough attitude: "I am still optimistic about the taxi industry. If you don't want my investment, then I'll invest it quickly!"
When Chen Wei heard this, his eyes were about to spit out of fire. But after calming down, he felt that if Zhang Yida really invested quickly, the war would have to be warned, and it would not be possible for him to win the death of the destiny!
When the two sides were in a stalemate, Lei Dongming smoothed out the situation. Both sides took a step back and reached an agreement on the condition of financing of 7.5%.
In January 2014, Penguin and CITIC invested US$100 million, and Didi's post-investment valuation was US$1 billion.
Now two months have passed, and the valuation has risen to US$1.2 billion.
Huayi Capital invested US$97.5 million, accounting for 7.5% of Didi's shares with a post-investment valuation of nearly US$1.3 billion.
The first phase of funds was immediately in place, the second phase of funds was 30 million US dollars, and the third phase of funds was 37.5 million US dollars, and the third phase was 3 months, and it was in place after 6 months.
Zhang Yida and Lei Dongming combined to find out that the current difference in venture capital is 137.5 million US dollars, which must be enough within 6 months. In addition, the second period of 60 million US dollars must be allocated in three months.
The pressure is quite high. In addition to Yimin Wealth and the entrusted third-party wealth management institutions to help raise funds, we also have to find other local tyrants.
After discussing, we are going to start with the alumni circle and find senior brothers Robin Li and Dongfang Yu to try it out.