Chapter 534: Little Red Car Series B Financing (2)

Wu Yun replied humbly, “President Wang, you flatter me. I’ve just been a bit lucky and stood on the shoulders of giants like you. It naturally gives me an advantage!”

After speaking, Wu Yun nodded to Wang Xin before turning to the last woman in the group.

Zhou Shuwen was dressed in a fitted white blouse with lace trim, paired with a navy-blue pencil skirt, an outfit that was both formal and accentuated her graceful figure.

“President Zhou! Thank you for trusting and investing in my company again!”

The moment Wu Yun’s hand touched Zhou Shuwen’s, he felt a slender finger tickle his palm.

“President Wu, after doing my due diligence for so long, and considering your usual exploits, it’s safe to say I know you inside and out!”

As Zhou Shuwen spoke, she gave Wu Yun a flirtatious glance.

Their hands parted after a brief touch.

Zhou Shuwen continued with a smile, “Our firm’s investors have a great deal of confidence in you, President Wu, and in your company!”

Wu Yun smiled and gestured toward the sofa. “Let’s not just stand here. Please, have some tea!”

As soon as they were seated, Wang Xin spoke up. “President Wu, you’re the darling of the investment world right now. So many venture capital firms want to invest in your company. If it weren’t for Meituan’s connection through Tencent, we wouldn’t have even gotten a foot in the door!”

Wu Yun thought about Meituan’s development trajectory. Next month, Meituan was set to merge with Dianping, creating a super unicorn valued at 15 billion US dollars.

At that point, Meituan would completely break away from the Alibaba Ecosystem and throw itself into the arms of the Tencent Ecosystem.

Of course, this was all still a trade secret at the moment. The fact that Wang Xin could say such things meant the matter was already set in stone.

“President Wang, if you want to build Meituan’s ecosystem, you’ve come to the right place with Little Red Car,” Wu Yun said bluntly.

At this time, Meituan had not yet expanded into all aspects of life—clothing, food, housing, and transport—as it would in the future. The concept of an “ecosystem” was just an idea in Wang Xin’s mind.

So when Wu Yun said this, Wang Xin looked as though he had found a kindred spirit, his face instantly breaking into a wide grin. “President Wu, I knew I made the right choice coming here!”

“President Wu! Let’s talk more in the future! Right now, Meituan is just feeling its way across the river. We’re hoping for suggestions from professionals like you!”

Wu Yun took a sip of water and said, “President Wang, the way you talk is making my head swell! How could I possibly be more experienced than those experts in the field? Compared to them, I’m just a student who hasn’t even graduated yet!”

After the two exchanged a few more pleasantries, Li Chaohui finally spoke up, a bit resigned. “We’re all one big family from now on. Why be so formal!”

“President Wu! President Ma has mentioned to me several times that he wants me to bring you to Peng City. He said whenever he calls you, you’re always busy with your girlfriend! You really do choose beauty over the empire, don’t you!”

Wu Yun joked, “President Li, please forgive me! The main issue is I have too many girlfriends! It’s hard to find the time!”

Wang Xin also chuckled. “It’s great to be young!”

“AHEM!” Zhou Shuwen coughed as a reminder.

“My apologies! There’s a lady present!” Wu Yun said apologetically. “President Li! Even if President Ma hadn’t mentioned it, I was planning to go to Peng City in a little while to chat with him anyway, and to discuss the development of WeBank.”

Li Chaohui nodded. “Alright! In that case, I’ll be waiting in Peng City to welcome you with open arms!”

After they chatted in the office for a while longer, Wang Hao knocked and entered. “President Wu! Almost everyone has arrived! We’re just waiting on you presidents!”

Wu Yun glanced at the others and said with a smile, “Alright! Let’s head straight to the conference room and get down to business on this financing round.”

The group walked into the conference room, where the legal teams and relevant personnel from the various parties stood up, waiting for their bosses to be seated.

Once everyone was present, Li Qiuliang tested the microphone and then began, “Welcome, new and old friends, to Little Red Car’s Series B financing round meeting!”

“Now, allow me to present Little Red Car’s current status! Please look at the big screen!”

“As of September 25th, our company has deployed 15 million Little Red Car bikes in all the provincial capitals and some second-tier cities across the country!”

“Our registered users have exceeded 120 million, which is more than all other shared bike companies in the country combined.”

“Following the deposit scandal, Little Red Car was not only unaffected but, on the contrary, cemented its position as the undisputed leader of the shared bike industry!”

“Right now, the vast majority of shared bike companies across the country are mired in the deposit scandal. Their corporate credibility has plummeted, and some have even absconded with the funds.”

“As a result, people from all over the country in places without Little Red Car have been leaving messages on our official website, hoping we will deploy bikes in their cities!”

“Therefore, we at Little Red Car still have significant room for growth.”

“As of September 25th, our company’s revenue from ride fees in September was 1 billion Huaxia Coins. However, due to progress payments for new bike deployments, high maintenance costs for older bikes, and wage expenses for employees nationwide, Little Red Car’s net profit for September was only 150 million Huaxia Coins!”

Because Wu Yun had already used funds from previous financing and ride revenue to plug the hole in the deposit funds, Little Red Car was now in a virtuous cycle.

However, if Little Red Car wanted to expand further into the nation’s second- and third-tier cities, financing was essential. After all, countless eyes were now fixed on Little Red Car’s dedicated deposit account.

If there was any sign of trouble, someone would quickly expose the issue. He didn’t want to become the next Little Yellow Car by getting caught misusing deposits.

Listening to Li Qiuliang’s report, even Wang Xin, who was already familiar with Little Red Car’s situation, couldn’t help but nod in satisfaction.

‘With Little Red Car, we can shore up some of our weaknesses in the transportation sector. If only I could get my hands on more of Little Red Car’s shares!’ Wang Xin thought, his eyes fixed on the presentation as he considered his next move.

Li Qiuliang then went on to introduce the interest income generated by Little Red Car’s deposit funds, which left many of the first-timers in the room speechless.

Both the enormous sum of the deposits and the high interest income were tantalizing figures. It was no wonder so many shared bike companies had fallen into the deposit trap.

Several people turned to look at the young man sitting at the head of the table. Some of the women in the room had a strange glimmer in their eyes.

Others looked at Wu Yun with admiration, wondering how he had managed to resist such a monetary temptation.

Wu Yun’s meetings always followed a concise agenda.

After Li Qiuliang finished his presentation, the meeting moved directly to the next item.

Tang Hongjiang stood up, holding a file. “After half a month of repeated negotiations, we at Nirvana Investment have valued Little Red Car at 3.2 billion US dollars, with a Series B financing round of US$800 million!”

“Nirvana Investment will not be participating in this Series B round. We are ceding this investment opportunity to the three of you present here. This was the result of our last discussion.”

“I’m curious how the three of you have decided to allocate this US$800 million?”

At this point, Wang Xin stood up. “For this Series B round, Meituan will lead the investment with 400 million US dollars!”

Li Chaohui raised his pen. “Two hundred million US dollars from Tencent!”

Zhou Shuwen also smiled elegantly. “We at Revitalization Capital will also be investing two hundred million US dollars!”

After some calculations, it was determined that Nirvana Investment’s original 80% stake would be diluted to 64%, and the stock option pool would be diluted from 5% to 4%.

Tencent’s stake, however, actually increased from 15% to 17%. Meituan would hold 10%, and Revitalization Capital would hold 5%.

With the new equity structure confirmed, Wu Yun stood up. “As President Tang has likely told you all before, we at Nirvana Investment are interested in selling a 5% stake.”

“I wonder what the three of you think about that?”

Wang Xin smiled. “Naturally, we at Meituan and Revitalization Capital will take half each! That’s US$100 million per company!”

Wu Yun nodded.

Immediately, the accountants in the room began calculating furiously again.

Nirvana Investment’s final stake was confirmed at 59%, Tencent at 17%, Meituan at 12.5%, and Revitalization Capital at 7.5%. Everyone was delighted!

“Next up is the signing ceremony!”