Chapter 304 A New Journey (End of Volume 1)
Chen Haiyang, the founder of Jumei Youpin, is sitting in his spacious office with great enthusiasm. Of course, he has reason to be proud. A year ago, the game platform he built was about to go bankrupt, and there were only 300,000 left in the company's account.
A year later, it was my wise decision to transform into a cosmetics vertical e-commerce platform. As a result, I have raised two rounds of financing and invested in it.
The company now has more than 200 employees, a large office space of nearly 2,000 square meters, and its sales have just reached 100 million. The registered users of the website have officially exceeded one million. Everything is developing in a better direction!
"Mr. Chen, the investment bank sent another offer, and this time the price has increased to 100 million!" Chen Haiyang's deputy, President Yan, walked in happily and said.
"One hundred million!" Chen Haiyang also widened his eyes. This money was really a lot. The company only raised 7 million US dollars in venture capital in the first two rounds of financing, which combined less than 60 million yuan.
This investment bank is so generous, he actually wants to invest 100 million at a time!
"What are the other party's requirements for shares?" Chen Haiyang felt that the problem was not that simple. If you invest so much money, you must have something to ask for.
"Oh, the other party asked for 20% of the shares and said that this was the final offer and there was no room for bargaining."
Is 100 million, 20% of the shares worth it?... Chen Haiyang fell into deep thought.
In the first two investments, 10% of the shares were taken away in the first round of 1 million US dollars, and the company's valuation was 10 million US dollars, less than 100 million RMB. But there is nothing to say. Angel round investment is a huge risk. Moreover, if there is no angel round investment, the company would not have developed.
In the second round, 6 million US dollars, another 10% of the shares was taken away. This time, the company's valuation has reached 60 million US dollars, or 500 million RMB.
It is normal for this third round of investment to double it a few times. But the problem is that the second round of investment has just ended, and the agreement was signed in February, and the money was just arrived a few days ago. Now the quotation of this investment bank is also calculated based on a valuation of 500 million yuan.
Since he started an e-commerce website, Chen Haiyang deeply felt that money is not enough! Since some people are willing to invest money, they still cannot let it go. The Internet winter has not yet passed, so it is really not easy to attract investment.
Thinking of this, he looked up and said to Vice President Yan: "Invite the other party to come over. Let's talk to him face to face. If you can, you will make a decision. With this one hundred million more, many of our plans will be ahead of schedule again."
So, the next morning, Li Youlun brought his assistant to Jumei Youpin Company and was warmly entertained by Chen Haiyang.
"Mr. Li, you see, our company now has more than 200 employees! And it is continuing to recruit. Although Lefeng.com's sales are slightly higher than us and more registered users are more than us, we will have some advertising next time and some big moves online, which will soon surpass the other party and become the leader of cosmetics vertical e-commerce platform!" Chen Haiyang took Li Youlun to visit the company and showed his ambitions.
Li Youlun smiled and nodded: "It's very good. It's because of Mr. Chen that I am willing to invest in Jumei Youpin. I also believe that under the leadership of Mr. Chen, Jumei Youpin will soon become the boss of this industry!"
He praised Chen Haiyang like this on the surface, but he was quite dissatisfied with it. He knew that Wang Ye had already targeted this industry and was sharpening his sword in Pengcheng. Once Wang Ye took action, not only Jumei Youpin, but also Lefeng's life would not be able to survive.
But this does not affect his investment in Jumei Youpin. No matter how fast Wang Ye moves, it will take three to five months to go online. When it is actually done, it will take more than half a year. By then, Jumei Youpin should develop to a small scale. It is not easy for Wang Ye to completely defeat Jumei Youpin.
Li Youlun saw it right and probably wanted to seek acquisitions with his style of doing things. How much is an e-commerce platform that ranks second in the industry? One or two billion is normal. The acquisitions and mergers of Internet companies are often calculated at 10 billion or 10 billion.
By then, hehehe, it’s okay to double your 20% stake. This is all money, you can earn it easily, so why not do it?
Several people came to the large conference room, sat down separately, and began formal negotiations.
Li Youlun’s request is very simple, with an investment of 100 million yuan and a 20% stake. This quote refers to the second round of financing that Jumei Youpin just ended, which should be considered a relatively fair price.
Chen Haiyang smiled and said, "Mr. Li, you are optimistic about the development of Jumei Youpin and are willing to invest in funds. I am very happy and welcome. But..."
After a change of the topic, he said reservedly: "But your share requirements are too high! You must know that after two rounds of financing, the company has only distributed 20% of the shares. You will need 20% of the shares this time. After a few rounds of financing, the controlling rights of our founder will not be guaranteed."
Internet companies want to survive until they go public, at least four or five rounds of financing will be carried out, so they should try to control the transfer of shares in the early stage. Every time they enter venture capital, they should try to give as little shares as possible. This is also to ensure the founder's controlling rights and the right to speak on the board of directors. Otherwise, after several rounds of financing, the founder becomes a small shareholder, which would be embarrassing.
However, it is inevitable that the founder will become a small shareholder, and it is even more common in Internet companies. Because Internet companies are too expensive! They need to carry out rounds of financing, and in this process, the equity will inevitably be diluted.
So what VIE structure, what are the same shares and different rights, are all new tricks played by Internet companies, which are designed to avoid the founder losing his voice. In fact, in the end, the controlling rights of the founder of the company have long been lost. It is just that through the equity structure design, it can still maintain its greater voice on the board of directors.
Li Youlun is also proficient in this. His purpose is only to make money, and he does not want to and does not want to participate in the company's specific operations.
"Let's do this, the shares are still 20%. After all, I have paid so much money. But I can sign a joint actor agreement with you for this share, and the validity period will be until I transfer the shares and exit!" Li Youlun confidently threw out the bait.
This is more attractive to Chen Haiyang. He has already made a decision on how to choose between a small cake and a big cake. Otherwise, he would not have invested everywhere. As long as he can guarantee his right to speak in the company, transferring shares is inevitable.
After lowering his head and thinking for a while, his fingers kept knocking on the table. After a while, Chen Haiyang raised his head and said, "Okay, I have already felt Mr. Li's sincerity. This proposal is indeed very good, and I can agree."
He had to agree that since the 2008 Internet economic crisis, investment has become increasingly difficult. He also negotiated with the other party for more than half a year to finalize the second round of investment. Now there is such a big shot who comes to his door with a check, how could he let it go?
After the details were negotiated, the two parties began to prepare legal documents and sign a formal agreement.
Li Youlun's investment this time was not in the name of Wanfeng Investment Company, but was still invested by him personally, and was conducted in the name of a small investment company he controlled.
After signing the agreement and agreeing on the payment time, Chen Haiyang enthusiastically invited Li Youlun to have lunch together.
Li Youlun smiled and refused. Before leaving, he said to Chen Haiyang meaningfully: "I don't need to say anything else, but there is one thing I want to remind you. After the funds arrive, hurry up and take the next action! You must expand the market as soon as possible, tap customers as soon as possible, and launch more products and services as soon as possible! Use all means to increase the scale of the company! Because you don't have much time left."
Chen Haiyang was confused and didn't know what he was talking about. When the time was not long, the company had only one competitor, which was the Lefeng shopping website, and the model of that company was different from that company.
Lefeng focuses on self-operated products, while Jumei Youpin is a special sale group purchase. The difference between the two is quite big, and Lefeng's growth rate is not as fast as it is. Now with these two rounds of huge investment, Jumei is already looking forward to surpassing Lefeng. Why would Li Youlun say that he has not had much time?
He asked his doubts, but Li Youlun did not answer, but just smiled and turned around and left.
Looking at Li Youlun's back as he left, Chen Haiyang felt a little messy in the wind. Do rich people like to play with mystery? You won't say anything well!
However, Li Youlun also has his own difficulties. He can't tell Chen Haiyang that Wang Ye from Pengcheng in the south has raised huge funds and is ready to enter this industry, and he is also one of the major shareholders. So he can only remind him in a vague way that whether he can understand depends on Chen Haiyang's understanding.
The matter was settled here, and Li Youlun immediately called Wang Ye and told him that he had raised enough funds and that Feipengcheng would go to officially sign the contract tomorrow.
The matter was finally implemented, and Wang Ye was also very happy and notified Nie Dingwen and Fang Haohua respectively, and agreed that everyone would come to Mingguang Science and Technology Park tomorrow and the company would be officially established!
On March 8, 2011, it was a sunny day. Pengcheng was already shining brightly in spring, and it was full of green everywhere.
In the office building of Mingguang Technology Park, Wang Ye, Nie Dingwen, Fang Haohua and Li Youlun officially signed an investment agreement, and Weiye Jiahua Co., Ltd. was officially established.
The company has invested 10 billion yuan in total, already owns a subsidiary, Hezhong Factory, and will also establish a cosmetics branch to acquire two companies (Maodu Jiahua and E-commerce Company).
Wang Ye felt a little moved. On March 8 last year, he just woke up from that big dream in a daze, but he was just an unemployed young man. A year has passed in a blink of an eye, and now he is a little successful.
Today, the new company is officially established and I am about to start a journey. At this time next year, I wonder if I can achieve greater success?
Chapter completed!