Chapter 437 - 379: Pinduoduo Preparing for Series B, an Acquaintance Pays a Visit

After sitting in Wei Feng’s office for a little while longer, Wu Yun stood up. "President Wei, I’ll be heading out now. I need to go next door and check on Pinduoduo. I’ve been an absentee owner for far too long!"

"Alright, President Wu. I’ll see you tonight, then! Let me see you out." Wei Feng also stood up, walked to the door, and held it open for Wu Yun.

When they reached the front desk, Wu Yun stopped him. "President Wei, that’s far enough. You should go back and start implementing what we discussed today."

"Oh, right! When I was in the United States, I ran into a fellow countryman. He mentioned he was going to Hollywood to acquire a special effects company and gave me his business card. Let’s add him to the list of invitees this time. We’ll see what he’s made of."

As he spoke, Wu Yun had Wang Hao find the business card in his bag and hand it to Wei Feng.

"President Wei, please get these things implemented as soon as possible over the next few days. Also, we need to come up with a rough investment estimate! I’ll have to trouble you and the rest of our colleagues at the company."

Hearing this, the few executives quickly waved their hands and said it was their duty.

After the elevator carrying Wu Yun and his group had descended a few floors, a woman in her thirties let out a long sigh. "I don’t know why, but I feel so much pressure around President Wu!"

A colleague beside her laughed. "I get the same feeling! Could this be the legendary ’aura of a king’?"

Wei Feng, standing at the front, cleared his throat. "Alright, that’s enough gossip! You only feel that way because President Wu rarely comes by. He’s actually a very easy-going person, as long as everyone gets their work done properly."

"Understood, President Wei!"

...

Downstairs at the Citibank Mansion, Zhou Shen saw Wu Yun and his group walking over from the side of the road.

"President Wu! You’re finally here!" Zhou Shen exclaimed as he looked at the elusive Wu Yun. "You may not be active in the scene, but the scene is full of legends about you!"

Wu Yun chuckled. "Oh? Are there really that many people at the company discussing me?"

Zhou Shen spoke as they walked. "As a famous tycoon on the rich lists, every single employee at the company feels a sense of shared honor!"

"Plus, the company is about half men and half women, so the discussions about you never stop!"

Zhou Shen pressed the ’up’ button for the elevator. "Many of our programmers love to play games in their spare time, and the games from your two companies, President Wu, have been dominating the top of the download charts for both PC and mobile lately!"

Wu Yun only believed the last part of Zhou Shen’s flattery. As for the "shared honor" bit, that was just something you’d say to fool a newbie who just entered the industry.

Although he hadn’t worked in a private enterprise in his past life, he had been part of the workforce. Wu Yun knew very well how the post-90s and even post-00s generations thought. It didn’t matter how much money the boss had; what mattered to them was how much ended up in their own pockets.

Soon, the group arrived at the floor where Pinduoduo was located.

Walking into the large office, Wu Yun noticed everyone was quietly staring at their computers. For some employees wearing glasses, you could even see the reflection of their computer screens on their lenses.

As Wu Yun walked past, he could clearly see the glowing images; they looked like moving videos.

Wu Yun just smiled faintly, not minding it.

Sitting down at his own desk, Wu Yun looked at Zhou Shen, who was taking out his laptop. "President Zhou, last time I was in the United States, I only gave the reports a quick glance. There’s a lot of internal and external company information that you can’t see from a report!"

"President Wu, as you know, our app’s total registered users reached 100 million as of the end of March. However, our active users are only about two-thirds of the registered user count."

"Through our investigations, we’ve found that many people are using multiple phones to create new accounts. I was thinking, should we implement a real-name verification system?"

Seeing Zhou Shen’s hesitant expression, Wu Yun shook his head. "Not yet. Continue to ramp up our promotional efforts. According to the report you provided, we still have over 300 million left from the last funding round. That should last us another two months!"

Zhou Shen gave a wry smile. "President Wu, that funding can indeed last us two months, but the 618 shopping festival is coming! We need a massive war chest! After all, an army marches on its stomach! This is why I mentioned on the phone that we need more capital!"

Wu Yun slapped his forehead. "How could I have forgotten about that! So, what do you think? Should we seek another round of financing? Or should we contact Tencent for a joint capital increase as our Series B?"

Zhou Shen immediately opened his laptop and said, "Several venture capital firms have already contacted us, and Tencent has also expressed its intention to continue participating."

Wu Yun nodded. "Alright, I’ll call Li Chaohui right now!"

With that, he took out his phone.

Leaning back in his executive chair, Wu Yun unconsciously crossed his legs. Once the call connected, he joked, "President Li! Help me!"

Li Chaohui was stunned for a moment on the other end, but he quickly understood and replied with a laugh, "President Wu, how could a small fry like me possibly help you!"

"President Wu! Your PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a total cash cow! How could you possibly be short on money!"

Li Chaohui’s words were quite clever. He not only showed that he was paying attention to Kunpeng Games but also subtly tested the waters.

"Haha! President Li, it’s Pinduoduo that needs a top-up! The 618 festival is just around the corner, after all! We want to ride on Old Liu’s coattails!" Instead of exchanging pleasantries with Li Chaohui as one normally would, Wu Yun cut straight to the chase.

Li Chaohui’s cheerful laughter came through the phone. "No problem! Then let’s open the Series B round directly. I wonder, will President Wu’s Nirvana Investment continue to participate, or are you planning to sit this round out?"

Wu Yun thought for a moment and said, "Of course, we’ll have to see what Pinduoduo’s valuation is this time. Whether I continue to invest will also depend on whether my own coffers are full enough!"