King of Capital

Chapter 71: Capital Raises Gu, Uses Fighting to Promote Peace

The next day, Xie Jingxing got up early, walked into the mountains in the dew, lit a gold ingot in front of the ancestral tomb, and poured two bottles of good wine to pray for the blessing of the ancestors' spirits in heaven.

In the morning, I went back to the village and visited every household to give gifts and express my condolences to the elders and villagers. In the afternoon, I took care of the trivial matters of life and boarded a civil aviation flight back to Shanghai.

Liu Qiming took over the driver's job and drove to the airport himself to pick up the passengers. He looked like he was idle all day and had nothing to do, but in fact he really had nothing to do.

Compared with conventional asset management companies, Taihe Capital's family office model has a higher degree of autonomy and an extremely simple overall management structure, with less than ten employees in total for mid- and back-end operations such as administration, finance, compliance and legal affairs.

Liu Qiming was more than capable of managing these two businesses at the same time, and he even had the leisure to take charge of public relations operations. He held two dinner parties every day to drink, wash feet and sing with all kinds of people.

The most important front-end investment business is managed by the CEO who was originally recruited from the industry. This person has already received his severance pay and will leave this month after handing over his work.

Many of his investment team members were eliminated. Originally, there were four investment groups with an average of four members in each group, but now there are only three groups left and one MD is missing.

Xie Jingxing and Liu Qiming rushed directly from the airport to the Taihe Capital office near Lujiazui. The public office area was empty and deserted. Except for a few employees on business trips, everyone else had been waiting in the office for a long time.

Su He was also there. She brought three subordinates from Juntai, including Shen Xin, which meant that the complete team could seamlessly integrate into the project.

"Let me tell you about the team first."

Omitting the process of introducing himself and greeting each other, Xie Jingxing sat at the top seat and looked around and asked, switching identities very smoothly.

Those who were not convinced had already left. The two MDs who were sitting here at least seemed to be obeying orders and following instructions on the surface. They exchanged glances with each other.

One of the MDs, who had a slightly high hairline and looked like a typical middle-aged financial elite, stood up first and said, "Hello, colleagues. My name is Wang Kan. My team mainly works in the traditional medical and health field. We will have the opportunity to communicate more in the future."

"Hu Zhifeng, online service industries including local life information and tourism." Another tall and thin middle-aged man with a Mediterranean hairstyle and a bitter face said concisely.

Su He put on a smile and was about to introduce herself, but Xie Jingxing waved his hand to interrupt her and said, "Su He, formerly the managing director of Juntai Securities' investment banking business line, Internet industry mergers and acquisitions group 2. She and her team remain unchanged and continue to work in the Internet industry."

"Shen Xin, former executive director of Internet Industry M&A Group 2 of Juntai Securities' investment banking business line and sponsor representative."

He cast his eyes towards the third investment team of Yuan Taihe that lacked an MD, paused for a moment and continued, "She will serve as the managing director of the Internet technology industry to lead your team."

As an early venture capital player in China, Taihe is very good at the medical and health field. Unfortunately, the medical industry is too complicated. Xie Jingxing does not intend to devote too much energy to it, but he cannot give up completely. After all, if he is lucky enough to invest in a high-quality medical company, it can be passed down for several generations.

Wang Kan currently has projects such as CanSino Biologics and Aide Biopharmaceuticals. It seems that their capabilities are similar and sufficient, so he can just keep them as they are and let them go.

This was also the idea of ​​the previous CEO, who gradually reduced investment in the medical and health industry, increased the proportion of technology, Internet, and tourism service industries, and invested in many high-quality companies: Ganji.com, Liepin, Mafengwo Travel, Tuhu Auto Maintenance, and even marriage and dating websites.

Due to personnel changes, most of the "post-investment management" work of this project is concentrated in Hu Zhifeng's team. Xie Jingxing has high expectations for him, and at the same time he is deeply grateful for the good foundation laid by the former CEO.

However, this also proves that Taihe’s so-called investment in the field of Internet technology is just an empty shell for the time being, and there is not a single bright spot among the invested projects.

To be fair, six out of the ten startups in the domestic Internet technology industry make money with the support of national policies, three are idealists with lofty ambitions but fragile lives, and the remaining two are mediocre and incompetent.

No matter technology or medical treatment, anything related to science requires time and patience. Bringing Shen Xin up to train will not affect the overall situation. Compared with ability, Xie Jingxing cares more about execution and trust.

According to the clear plan considered in advance, the team composition and specific business direction of the four investment teams were allocated. The newly formed Xiao Shen investment team got the "post-investment management" work of several projects such as Zhihu, Dianping, and Xiami Music.

"That's all for today's meeting. Within one to two months, Taihe will focus on smoothly handing over the project, and the general direction of work will remain the same." Xie Jingxing said the main topic in a few words and adjourned the meeting.

Su He stayed alone and said, "Boss Xie, Cheng Wei is waiting at the hotel. Shall we go there now?"

"Do I look okay?"

Xie Jingxing didn't respond, he took off his gold-rimmed glasses clipped on his nose and asked seriously.

Su He nodded and said in a strange tone: "Pretty steady."

Xie Jingxing was so annoyed that he automatically ignored her expression of wanting to laugh but not daring to laugh, and silently lowered his head to pack up the documents. It doesn't matter if you are a founder, but you have to look more stable when managing a company. It's actually quite tiring to be in charge of a company worth more than one billion US dollars at a young age.

"Mr. Xie, I think Shen Xin is more suitable for the 'Bu Du' milk tea brand project." Su He carefully made a suggestion on the way to the hotel.

Xie Jing Xing looked at her with a half-smile: "Boss Shen has done due diligence with me, and he is indeed more familiar with it than you are. You two can discuss it."

"..."

Su He was stunned for a moment and then forced a smile: "Mr. Shen has finally made it by coming to Taihe." "I will reserve the position of Taihe's first partner for you." Xie Jingxing said sincerely.

Taihe's job promotion system has five levels: SA, VP, D, MD, and partner. Shen Xinlai of Taihe has given up an annual salary of hundreds of thousands after tax as a sponsor representative. From this perspective, it would be unreasonable not to give her a promotion and a raise.

Su He took the opportunity to propose to hand over the "Bu Du" project to Shen Xingen, actually for her own benefit in seeking the Didi project. The latter said that it was for Tang Man who joined Xiyou Capital, but Taihe would also participate in its next round of financing.

And she will use her traditional skills in this process - helping Didi acquire Bumblebee.

For her and her team, it would be best to practice their skills in their old business as the first project after switching from brokerage mergers and acquisitions to venture capital business. It was not that she simply wanted to have a fight with Tang Man.

Xie Jingxing expressed his understanding of this, but Didi's acquisition of Bumblebee was only for defense, and it was more important to bring in investors with state-owned capital backgrounds to attack. In this regard, Tang Man, who has a resume of private equity financing, is obviously the best candidate.

Su He, with his mouth blocked by the pancake, had nothing to say and rushed to the hotel in silence.

Cheng Wei, Didi co-founder Wang Gang, and Peng Zhijian, who represented Tencent's strategic investment, were eating crabs with big mouthfuls, each holding a small wine dispenser. The box was filled with smoke, like a paradise.

Xie Jing Xing couldn't help but lean back slightly: "Sorry for being late."

"Mr. Xie, please come in and have a seat. These are the first batch of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs this year. They are a little small in size, so you should enjoy them mainly for their freshness." Cheng Wei wiped his hands and stood up to welcome him.

Peng Zhijian, who was considered an old acquaintance, said to the waiter with a big mouthful of oil: "Bring two more wine dispensers."

"...I heard that Bumblebee opened up a second battlefield and defeated you in Yangcheng?" Xie Jingxing found a seat and sat down to get to the point.

Cheng Wei looked like a punching bag and said in frustration: "Ali is making trouble, otherwise I would have defeated the Hornet last month."

"Alibaba is helping Kuaidi Dache lead its Series B financing. Jack Ma is going crazy."

Peng Zhijian pouted and said disdainfully: "We met with the founder of Bumblebee, Deng Wei, a few days ago. This woman is crazy. Do you know what she said? She said that Cai Chongxin called her personally and threatened that if she dared to merge with Didi, they would die together."

"So what?" Su He couldn't help but frown.

Cheng Wei said unnaturally: "Boss Zhu said let's fight her. If she merges with Kuaidi Dache, we will kill her."

"You are all crazy." Xie Jingxing commented from the bottom of his heart.

Cheng Wei fought his way up from the bottom to become the head of Alibaba's Sales Iron Army Division, and he has the temperament of a gangster; Zhu Xiaohu from Jinshajiang was the one who was in charge of Didi's crazy marketing and integration of the Beijing market during last year's price war; not to mention Peng Zhijian.

It's very reasonable for these three guys to go crazy accidentally, and it's also reasonable for Mr. Ma, who had his lung poked, to go crazy and make threats.

But why is Deng Wei going crazy? Is she forced into a corner by the number one and number two in the market?

A few months ago, when Didi unified the Beijing market and entered Shanghai, Bumblebee promptly obtained a US$10 million investment from Morningside Venture Capital and announced that it had entered a defensive war state. For eight consecutive weeks, as long as you registered an account and used Bumblebee to take a taxi, the driver and passenger would receive yuan of free phone bills for each transaction.

It was because of such fierce resistance that Didi took Tencent's money and then Xie Jingxing's money in just a few months.

On the other hand, Kuaidi Taxi received a round A financing from Alibaba in June, signed strategic partnerships with Qunar, Baidu Maps, AutoNavi Maps, and Alipay in July, and this month sought a round B financing to attempt to acquire Bumblebee.

So from Bumblebee's perspective, wouldn't it be good for the first or second place in the market to be acquired through bidding? Or to put it another way, Didi and Kuaidi Dache have big moves almost every month, so why is Deng Wei going crazy?
"Has any investor contacted Bumblebee?" Su He asked, covering his nose to block out the smell of smoke.

Cheng Wei put down his glass and sat up straight: "We also guessed that this is the case. We are checking who wants to invest."

"First, we should find a way to acquire Bumblebee. Their market share in Shanghai and Guangzhou is second only to ours. If we take over these two cities, we can strangle Kuaidi Dache to the south."

Xie Jingxing hesitated for a moment and said, "Secondly, speed up the financing process and increase subsidies to promote peace. We can't stop someone from investing in Bumblebee, but if anyone dares to join in the fun, we will bury him."

"Mr. Xie, please help us with the merger and acquisition. Mr. Zhu also means the same thing." Cheng Wei simply expressed his attitude without any hesitation.

Capital is not afraid of burning money but is afraid of having no hope. Uber, which is developing rapidly abroad, has given unlimited hope, so the domestic online car-hailing industry has exploded with an endless investment boom since its birth.

All players come to the game. It doesn't matter if they lose. Just draw a few cards first and then raise the cards and change the bets later. Everyone knows how to play this game.

The founders are forced by capital to fight each other. As of now, the King of Gu is taking shape, with Didi, Kuaidi and Bumblebee dividing the world into three parts. Now that the Gu worm has been raised to this level, capital has the final say on what to do next.

As long as Xie Jingxing and Tencent said they would fight, Cheng Wei would have to die on the way to attack other poisonous insects even though he knew he would die.

(End of this chapter)