Volume 2: Storm Rising 2015 Chapter 384: Taking down ofo
If we only rely on the platform's cash flow and expand steadily with the car-to-car model, it will take an unknown amount of time to achieve the goal of occupying all the universities in the country.
Dai Wei and others are naturally not so naive, and the reason why their project started so quickly was thanks to the 1.5 million angel round investment they received last year, which allowed the project to quickly undergo a transformation and be launched on the Peking University campus.
Therefore, after accumulating rich practical experience, Dai Wei and others naturally prepared to repeat the old tricks and start the second round of financing.
With the example of the previous success, once the funding is obtained, the successful experience of Peking University campus can be quickly replicated, and ofo's yellow bikes can be put into major universities in Beijing, further expanding the scale...
After successfully occupying the universities in Beijing, with this achievement, we can convince investors to start the next round of financing, and then use the money to continue snowballing. The bigger the snowball rolls, the broader the money prospects will be...
For Dai Wei, who graduated from Peking University School of Management, he is naturally familiar with the logic of capital operation. The premise of snowballing is naturally to continuously produce results that can convince investors.
Just as Dai Wei was about to contact his previous angel investors to discuss the next round of financing, something unexpected happened.
"Bang, Awei, there are a few people outside who claim to be from Dongsheng Investment and want to talk to us about investment. Capital actually came to us on its own initiative. We succeeded!" Xue Ding, one of the company's partners, was full of excitement and pushed the door open without even knocking.
Dai Wei's heart skipped a beat, and he said helplessly: "Old Xue, how many times have I told you to knock on the door first? What if it's inconvenient for me?"
"What? Do you like to do some handicrafts in the office?" Xue Ding asked in a teasing tone.
"What if? You don't want to be disturbed when you're doing handicrafts, do you?" Dai Wei was not annoyed. As college classmates, they were already accustomed to the joy of joking with each other.
I thought we would be separated by thousands of miles after graduation, but I didn’t expect to be brought together again because of this entrepreneurial project. This is the joy of being a college student entrepreneur.
"Okay, then I will definitely say hello next time, in case you become impotent at such a young age. Then I can't call you Awei anymore, I have to call you Wei Ge!" Xue Ding joked.
"Ah Wei is already dead, you chose him..." Dai Wei laughed, then said: "Okay, hurry up, the investor's business is more important."
The two of them joked as they walked out of the office. They soon saw a group of people standing not far away. They were dressed in suits and looked very professional, just like insurance salesmen.
"Hello, hello, I am Dai Wei, the head of the company. May I ask who you are..." Dai Wei took the initiative to extend his hand and asked enthusiastically.
Lu Sifang took a look at Dai Wei. He was wearing glasses and looked gentle and refined, with a scholarly air all over him. He didn't look like an entrepreneur, but more like a student.
"Hello, I'm from Dongsheng Investment. I came all the way from Yangcheng just for Mr. Dai's bike-sharing project..."
Lu Sifang deliberately emphasized his sincerity, and then said, "I wonder if it is inconvenient for Mr. Dai to have a further conversation?"
"Of course it is convenient. I didn't expect that our small entrepreneurial project for college students could attract Mr. Lu who is far away in Guangzhou. It is really our honor. Please come in, Mr. Lu!" Dai Wei said with a little surprise.
Then he welcomed the person into his office. After all, the company was in its start-up phase and the conditions were relatively simple.
Everyone sat down and poured tea. Dai Wei took the initiative to ask, "I wonder how Mr. Lu noticed us?"
Lu Sifang was not in a hurry. He blew a sip of tea calmly, took a sip, and then said calmly: "Because we at Dongsheng Investment are currently doing market research related to the sharing economy. The concept of sharing economy has been popular overseas for some time and has received considerable response..."
"Among them, there are also excellent players like Airbnb and Uber. I wonder if Mr. Dai has paid attention to Didi Taxi, which is also in Beijing. It just completed a financing of 3 billion US dollars not long ago, and completely fired the first shot ..."
Obviously, Lu Sifang had done his homework before coming here, and his eloquent words made Dai Wei nod his head.
"Of course I am paying attention to it. To be honest, the reason why we chose to start a business in the shared bicycle industry is because of the good examples we have seen before..."
"However, compared to sharing houses and cars, we can only adapt to local conditions and choose bicycles that are more suitable for activities on campus as our goal..."
Dai Wei briefly explained his family's situation.
Lu Sifang smiled and said, "We at Dongsheng Investment are very optimistic about the future of the sharing economy, so we want to choose a suitable investment target in this field, so we paid attention to Mr. Dai's shared bicycles..."
"But... I was somewhat disappointed to hear that President Dai only positioned this project as 'campus shared bicycles'. Compared with the overall social demand and the huge market, campus is really not worth mentioning..."
Dai Wei was slightly stunned, as if he didn't expect the investor to take the initiative. However, Dai Wei was not timid and smiled slightly, "This is naturally in our plan, but when starting a business, you can't aim too high. You have to take it step by step."
"Our initial goal is to pilot the program in colleges and universities, and accumulate sufficient practical experience while completing the coverage of all colleges and universities, so that we can better promote it to the society..."
"We have put 2,000 shared bicycles into operation at Peking University, our alma mater. In the four months since its launch, they have served more than 900,000 teachers and students. This has laid a solid foundation in both technology and operations..."
"In fact, even if Mr. Lu hadn't found us, we would have been preparing for the next round of financing to obtain funds, so as to achieve our initial strategic goal of covering all universities in Beijing with the yellow bikes..."
Dai Wei spoke in an orderly manner, his composure revealing confidence.
Lu Sifang nodded. "Since President Dai has a financing plan, it will be easy. According to the information I have learned, the angel round of President Dai's company is 1.5 million, right?"
Dai Wei nodded and said with a smile: "Mr. Lu really came prepared. He even knows our angel round clearly."
"Then I wonder what Mr. Dai's expectations are for the next round of financing?" Lu Sifang smiled brightly and asked in a retreat-to-advance manner.
"Emmm, in order to achieve our initial strategic goal, the funding gap is probably more than 5 million. In order to achieve this goal, we are willing to exchange 15% of our shares..."
"Five million? US dollars?" Lu Sifang was surprised. He was indeed a student from Peking University. His tone was really arrogant.
This is just the beginning. A mere shared bicycle project that is still in its infancy has the guts to make a huge request for financing of 5 million US dollars... Aren't they too ignorant of the immensity of the world?
Dai Wei's expression was awkward, and he said a little awkwardly: "Well, it's RMB. If it's US dollars, 1 million would be more than enough..."
Lu Sifang smiled and said, "I misunderstood Mr. Dai. If this is the price, I think 2 million US dollars for 30% of the shares should not be too much, right?"
"With this money, I believe that Mr. Dai will be able to achieve the strategic goal of occupying Beijing's universities more quickly. We at Dongsheng Investment are still looking forward to seeing the presence of shared bicycles in society..."
"By the way, in addition to Mr. Dai, we have also noticed that there are competitors of Mr. Dai in Beijing. If Mr. Dai does not accept this financing, we can only choose another one."
Lu Sifang said with a smile.
Dai Wei heard this and shrugged helplessly , "Boss Lu has said this, do I still have any choice?"
