Volume 2: Storm Rising 2015 Chapter 299 Do you know the “Ice Bucket Challenge”?
"Then I wonder what valuation Dongsheng Capital has given to our Wenxue Network?" Yang Luyu asked with some anticipation.
After a confrontation of ideas, Yang Luyu had already accepted this capital institution in his heart, and he sincerely hoped to see the grand scene that Zhou Dongsheng had described.
However, no matter what, the current domestic short video industry is like the darkness before dawn. If there is not enough capital to support the operation...
Perhaps after adjusting its strategy, Wenxue Network will be the first to fall in the darkness before dawn, which would be a complete loss.
Therefore, no matter how grand the concepts and strategies are, they still have to be implemented in practice, so how much Dongsheng Capital can give is the key.
If there is more noise than action, Yang Luyu does not rule out continuing to choose overseas capital and continue to implement the basic policy of overseas strategy.
After all, this path was taken by Wenxue Network itself, and it has been effective so far.
In response, Zhou Dongsheng leaned back and stretched lazily. Li Jiana picked up the water cup and handed it to Zhou Dongsheng at the right time. Now it was the subordinates' turn to work.
Lu Sifang on the side understood what he meant and said with a smile: "We noticed that your company had already completed a round of financing in April..."
"The investor is Cheetah Mobile, a subsidiary of Kingsoft. The financing amount is 1 million US dollars, and the valuation is about 5 million US dollars..."
“Through this financing, your company’s development and traffic accumulation have reached a new level in just four months.
It is precisely because of the sweetness of financing and the urgency of occupying the market that your company is seeking a new round of financing opportunities. Through the accumulation of the past four months, the growth of overseas users and daily active users is very impressive..."
"Currently, the number of users of Musical.ly has already exceeded 10 million, and the daily active users are stable at over 1 million, and the user groups are mainly concentrated in Europe and the United States..."
Lu Sifang talked freely and compared the data he had with Yang Luyu. When Yang Luyu had no objection to the data, he finally put forward a reasonable valuation.
“Although the potential is huge, four months is still a bit short. In summary, I think your company’s valuation of around 40 million US dollars is relatively reasonable.”
In just four months, the valuation has increased nearly 10 times, which seems exaggerated and unreasonable, but it is not an exaggeration at all considering the overseas market occupied by this short video software under Wenxue Network.
Compared with Facebook and Twitter, the native social software in Europe and the United States, Musical.ly has a younger user base. The concept of short video music community has penetrated into the youth groups in Europe and the United States, and has even become the preferred social platform for European and American teenagers.
Young, energetic, with a strong desire to socialize and express themselves externally, this is undoubtedly a major label for young people in Europe and the United States.
And after user habits are formed, the young user group will undoubtedly become a more stable base for the platform.
Now and in the future, they will be the main force in Internet social networking, which is also the foundation of Musical.ly.
Upon hearing this valuation, Yang Luyu nodded calmly. In fact, the valuation given by overseas capital is also within this value range, and is not much different.
Then, the only difference may be whether Dongsheng Capital can provide resources that overseas capital does not have?
"As the founding team, how many shares is Mr. Yang prepared to sell for financing?" Zhou Dongsheng on the side raised the question.
If Wenxue Network wants to make a big splash in the short video industry, then naturally the more shares it holds the better. After the angel round and A round of financing, Yang Luyu should still have more than 70% of the shares. In addition to Yang Luyu, Cheetah is the second largest shareholder.
"If based on this valuation, I am willing to sell 20% of my shares for financing." Yang Luyu gave his chips.
This share of chips is enough to make Dongsheng Investment the second largest shareholder. This can be regarded as the chips that Yang Luyu gave "with reluctance" because he agreed with Zhou Dongsheng's words.
Originally, Yang Luyu only considered raising 10% of the shares to support the company's continued expansion strategy and operations .
"I want 30%! Of course, I don't want it for nothing. In addition to providing funds, we can provide a lot of resources for the operation of the domestic market, and we can consider bringing in the pig farm for subsequent financing..."
"As a music short video software, Zhuchang's cloud music and personal original music creators are scarce resources..."
"In addition, there is one thing in common between short videos and live broadcasts. Both rely on internet celebrities to attract traffic, stabilize the platform's basic base, and then attract more users to join in the creation..."
"However, short videos are rooted in the vertical screen of mobile devices, so they are naturally more suitable for focusing on portraits for social interaction and promotion. With the catalyst of music, the effect is even more significant..."
"I also own a small media company with several top live streaming talents. Although I have linked it to a live streaming platform, I have not yet entered the short video field..."
"We can share resources for anything that short video platforms need, and I think this is what Wenxue Network urgently needs."
Zhou Dongsheng spoke slowly and counted the resources in his hands. The outline of a channel had slowly taken shape in his hands. By integrating these resources, it had begun to take on the appearance of a qualified capital.
These are also what a startup company needs and desires, especially if it wants to open up the domestic market, personal connections are indispensable.
After careful consideration, Yang Luyu took another look at Zhou Dongsheng, who was young but somewhat "unfathomable"...
For some unknown reason, Yang Luyu nodded and smiled brightly, "I think I have no reason to refuse cooperation with a high-quality capital institution like Dongsheng Investment."
After saying that, he stood up first and stretched out his hand. He agreed a little too readily. Yang Luyu admitted that there was a bit of gambling involved...
Zhou Dongsheng showed a relieved smile, stood up and stretched out his hand. "Boss Yang, I wish us a happy cooperation in advance. Seeing that Boss Yang agreed so readily, I will give you another strategic suggestion that will help the development of short videos..."
"Oh? I'd like to hear the details." Yang Luyu pretended to listen attentively.
"Mr. Yang, you should know the 'Ice Bucket Challenge', right? It's a phenomenal challenge activity that has swept the Internet at home and abroad." Zhou Dongsheng suddenly mentioned an "irrelevant" activity.
"Of course I know this..." Yang Luyu nodded in confusion. After all, the Ice Bucket Challenge was so famous that even a large number of celebrities from home and abroad participated in it.
"From the Ice Bucket Challenge, we can easily see that a challenge project with a low entry threshold, strong social attributes, and easy to spread can bring huge traffic benefits once it is scaled up!"
“These conditions are naturally available on short video platforms, so we can learn from the ice bucket challenge and create a challenge to invite users to participate…”
“Even if this challenge has only one-tenth of the effect of the Ice Bucket Challenge, it will be enough to take Musical.ly to the next level,” Zhou Dongsheng said with certainty.
At the same time , Zhou Dongsheng couldn't help but smile, and recalled the pleasant experience of opening the door to a new world when he first watched a short video.
