Chapter 372: Financing Success, the Whole Province is Shocked
Sequoia Capital is the lead investor in this round for Toutiao Technology.
They alone accounted for 700 million out of the 1 billion financing quota.
The remaining 300 million yuan will be divided among several other small and medium-sized institutions.
The deal was almost done, but unexpectedly, Sequoia suddenly changed its mind! This caught Toutiao Technology off guard.
Seeing Zhang Wanhao's gloomy face, the director of the investment strategy department said, "Sequoia's failure to support us this time has greatly affected their reputation in the VC circle."
"However, after all, the two parties have not signed a letter of intent, so legally they are not in breach of contract."
"So, we can only not choose him in the next round, or tell the outside world..."
Hearing the director's words, Zhang Wanhao waved his hand, interrupting him and said, "Let's not talk about these things. It's useless."
At this point, he looked at a director beside him and asked, "Boss Gou, what is our current financial situation? How long can it sustain us?"
The director was obviously in charge of the company's finances and was well aware of the company's financial situation. He coughed and said, "We are expanding a bit aggressively and spending a lot of money. If we don't get investment in two months at most, we won't be able to hold on."
"But... in order to ease the pressure on the company, it would be best if the funds could be received within a month."
Zhang Wanhao tapped the table silently with his fingers and then fell into deep thought.
After a while, he looked at the director of the investment strategy department and said, "List the domestic investment institutions that are interested in us in this round. Let's see which institutions have the strength to lead the investment."
The director of the investment department couldn't help but look at him and said in surprise, "Mr. Zhang, are we not looking for overseas funds anymore?"
Even though he encountered such a big thing, Zhang Wanhao remained calm and rational.
He said, "We need to find overseas funds, but not necessarily this round."
He looked around the entire conference room and then analyzed rationally, "Overseas capital also has different lineups. We have held meetings and studied this many times before. The most suitable one for our development is Sequoia Capital."
"Its huge business reach, including various groups and enterprises, is exactly what we need for our overseas strategy."
"So, if we choose another large overseas capital party, it would be equivalent to giving it up."
"This is likely to have a huge impact on our overseas layout."
At this point, he paused and said, "So, I think I would rather wait for one round. Wait until the next round to see how Sequoia does. If it still doesn't work out there, I'll work with other large overseas capitals."
"So, in this round, we can first get financing from abroad."
"It's just..." He looked at the director of the investment department and said, "We don't want big financial groups or those big Internet companies. You know what I mean."
Everyone present nodded slightly.
Although Zhang Wanhao has always acted as if he does not care about the company's development to the outside world, he has actually never concealed his ambitions internally.
He just wants to develop Toutiao Technology into one of the top three Internet conglomerates in China!
With this goal, how could he accept investments from well-known Internet companies such as Penguin and Ali?
This is another reason why he prefers foreign funds.
Now, because overseas financing is blocked, he has to raise funds domestically, but even so, he insists on not taking the resources of these consortiums.
He wants to become a consortium, a big company, and build his own Internet department, rather than being subordinate to a certain department...
Seeing that Zhang Wanhao had made a decision, the director of the investment department quickly reported the names of several investment institutions and took out their information one by one.
These investment institutions are relatively well-known domestic institutions with sufficient funds, but they are just pure investments.
Zhang Wanhao looked through them one by one.
Until the last one, he was suddenly stunned.
Because the last venture capital company is called [Chen Investment], and the boss of the company is Chen Yan.
When Zhang Wanhao saw this information, he couldn't help but recall the pleasant conversation he had with Chen Yan last night.
He was a calm and generous young man, and... he was very loving.
In fact, many people don’t know that when Zhang Wanhao was young, he was helped by a deaf-mute old man. It was the help of that old man that helped Zhang Wanhao get through his most difficult period.
So, since then, Zhang Wanhao has been doing charity work in private.
But he didn't publicize it.
Because he feels that charity is to help those in need, not a tool to gain fame and fortune.
And last night, he met someone who looked similar to himself.
They recruited a person with aphasia into the company without any discrimination and even got along well with her.
Moreover, he is secretly doing charity.
This is why Zhang Wanhao had such a good impression of Chen Yan last night.
And now, seeing this document, he couldn't help but think of that young man.
Maybe... it would be interesting to work with him?
Thinking of this, he looked up and asked, "What's the situation with this Chen Investment? Can they also come up with 700 to 800 million in cash to lead the investment in a short period of time?"
Hearing Zhang Wanhao's culture, the director of the investment department quickly said, "Yes. They have the ability."
As he spoke, he began to introduce Chen Investment's information, "Chen Investment is a newly established..."
…
That night, Chen Yan received a call from Zhang Wanhao.
On the phone, Zhang Wanhao and Chen Yan talked about financing.
Although it was not clear what Qiangmaika had done to make Zhang Wanhao decide to accept his investment, Chen Yan seized the opportunity and had a detailed chat with Zhang Wanhao.
Because he had the confidence of the [Forced Purchase Card], Chen Yan also bluntly put forward his own conditions: 1 billion in cash and 10% of the shares. In this round of financing, he didn't care about others, he wanted to take these shares himself.
Zhang Wanhao was silent for a while and did not give a direct answer. He just said to let the people below talk.
The next day, after receiving the invitation from Toutiao, He Mengxue immediately brought the negotiation team she had formed yesterday and the legal team to fly to Tiandu to discuss this tens of billions of financing project.
The wealthy people in Qindong Peninsula who had just received the news from Tiandu were all a little confused.
Their first reaction was: Is it that Donald Qin is too slow, or is the world changing too fast?
Can a financing project worth tens of billions of dollars change at will?
And the second reaction was: Chen Yan really didn’t brag?
Did he really just take a stroll around Tiandu and negotiate this cooperation?
For a while, because of these twists and turns, everyone in Tiandu began to pay attention to the outcome of this matter.
The next afternoon, as soon as He Mengxue arrived in Tiandu, she was picked up by Song Chuang and went to Toutiao Company to start negotiations.
However, the negotiations were not smooth. The two companies had major differences regarding shares and the negotiations reached a deadlock.
On the morning of the third day, the negotiations still did not go smoothly. At the critical moment, Zhang Wanhao stepped forward and took the initiative to signal the company to make concessions.
On the afternoon of the third day, the two sides reached an agreement on the shares. Chen Investment valued Toutiao Technology at 10 billion yuan and invested 1 billion yuan to obtain 10% of the shares.
Other institutions that followed the investment also invested RMB 200 million to RMB 3.1 billion based on the valuation of RMB 10 billion.
On the fourth day, Chen Yan personally flew to Tiandu and, together with Zhang Wanhao, signed a financing agreement on behalf of both companies, and the agreement officially came into effect.
In the major news, Chen Yan and Zhang Wanhao stood side by side in the middle, He Mengxue stood next to Chen Yan, and the others stood on both sides. The negotiation went so smoothly that both sides smiled brightly.
At this time, the wealthy circles in Qindong Peninsula were all silent.
Those who originally claimed to have received the news from Tiandu and thought that Chen Yan was pretending were all a little ashamed.
And more people were shocked by Chen Yan's abilities and methods.
No matter how they analyze or deduce.
They all felt that they had no way to negotiate the financing when Toutiao Technology had already determined the general direction of financing and even reached a verbal agreement with overseas funds.
Some of the second generation of elites were so confused that they were a little autistic. With no other options, they found their parents in the Peninsula Club and asked them if they could do it.
The dozen or so top wealthy people in the Peninsula Club were all silent when faced with questions from their children.
Because they found that they couldn't do it.
Even He Ruifeng, the richest man in Qindong Peninsula and He Mengxue's father, spent a long time at home calculating and felt that he could not break the impasse like Chen Yan did.
Later, as the negotiations ended, some fragmented news gradually spread back to Qindao.
