Chapter 184 Teacher Ma’s Circle of Friends
[On March 3, the communication information platform 'ByteDance' completed a C round of financing of over 14 million US dollars, led by Sequoia China. ]

[Recently, the short video platform 'Kuaishou' completed a round B financing of over 100 million US dollars, led by DST. ]

Two consecutive rounds of financing worth hundreds of millions of dollars did not make much splash in the increasingly turbulent venture capital market. A few people were surprised at the rapid growth of ByteDance and the ubiquity of Sequoia China.

Kuaishou and its largest shareholder were ignored by the mainstream. Xie Jingxing, who had harvested several high-return projects in a row, returned to the podium in a low-key manner, continued to cultivate the land carefully, and patiently waited for the arrival of the next harvest season.

The fundraising for Xiyou Capital’s first RMB fund is gradually coming to an end, and it will enter a closed operation period after passing the regulatory account review at the end of this month.

The scale of funds exceeded expectations, totaling 32 billion yuan. The business team responsible for fundraising received a one-time bonus of tens of millions of yuan, and will also receive a considerable subsistence allowance bonus every year in the future until the fund expires.

The big plan that Xie Jingxing had drawn up was initially fulfilled. The industry-leading income allowed the employees of Grapefruit Capital to proudly wear the company logo brooch when they go out, just like the employees of Taihe Capital.

Made of platinum, it looks like an open grapefruit leaf with English characters engraved on it - see you.

"This is our investment philosophy. We will see our invested companies tomorrow. Everyone is welcome to join us."

After the class ended, Xie Jingxing also extended an invitation to the students who were attending the class. Xiyou’s cooperation project with Jiaotong University includes talent training.

"Mr. Xie, do you have any requirements for internship majors? Is philosophy major okay?"

"Of course. In fact, philosophy is very good at cultivating logical ability. Many outstanding investors have a philosophy education background, such as me."

"Boss Xie, is it possible for me to stay as an intern?"

"As long as you are good enough, why not?"

Xie Jingxing never tires of answering the students' whimsical questions.

In the corner of the classroom, there sat a quiet middle-aged woman wearing a blue and pink linen sweater. She listened with great interest, a sarcastic smile on her lips.

According to her understanding, Xiyou's basic monthly salary for the lowest SA level is 3.5 yuan, which means that these students with mediocre academic qualifications have to compete with graduates from Peking University and Tsinghua University, top returnees, and old hands who have jumped out of public securities companies and worked there for several years.

Obviously not given any chance, but wasting time here pretending to be down-to-earth.

It can be seen that he is indeed a very proud person, cut from the same cloth as those children of power and wealth she knows, even more aloof and indifferent in his bones.

When the students dispersed, she walked forward with a smile like spring breeze and said, "Mr. Xie, I have heard of your great name for a long time. I learned a lot from your class today. It is true that a great reputation is not in vain."

"Thank you, who are you?" Xie Jingxing had already noticed her.

"Li Ying, partner of Yunfeng Fund."

The woman handed over her business card with both hands: "Would it be convenient for us to find a place to sit down and chat? I should have contacted you in advance, but I have been traveling for business recently and I am not sure about my schedule. I am worried that I might miss the appointment and leave a bad impression on you."

"not very convenient."

Xie Jingxing took the business card apologetically and stuffed it into his backpack.

Li Ying was slightly stunned: "It's like this, I have a project I want to discuss with you."

"You say." Xie Jingxing said coldly.

Yunfeng Fund is the work of Mr. Ma. Its investment pace closely follows Alibaba's strategic layout. At the same time, compared with Tencent's strategic investment, it has more autonomy for Tencent.

It has a luxurious lineup of LPs behind it. A large number of famous entrepreneurs including Liu Yonghao, Shi Yuzhu and Chen Lihua are fund sponsors. The current fund size is tens of billions.

It mainly engages in two deep-water industries, medical technology and new energy, and gathers half of the private capital of the Zhejiang business faction, which can be regarded as Mr. Ma’s circle of friends.

As a partner of the fund, Li Ying has an excellent personal resume and background, and his representative work is "My Father-in-law in the Name of People".

Such a woman with a dazzling halo came to him without any reason. Xie Jingxing was a little bit weak in the kidneys and didn't dare to sit down and chat easily.

"I heard from a friend that you want to buy residential land in Hangzhou. Hangzhou's land prices have just fallen back recently. I wonder if there is a possibility of cooperation."

Li Ying was firm in her attitude and insisted on sitting down to talk, seemingly trying to stir up sensitive emotions.

Xie Jingxing frowned: "How do you want to cooperate?"

"I seldom come to Shanghai, could you please recommend a restaurant to me, Mr. Xie? I'll treat you to a meal." Li Ying asked with a smile.

Xie Jingxing shrugged, put on his backpack and walked ahead. Although Old Xie did not agree with him going to Hangzhou to bid for land to build a garden during the Yunshan Group's annual meeting, he still planned to use his pocket money to bid for the land first.

Even if the garden cannot be built, it is still a business that is sure to make money.

Being able to find out his private affairs that had nothing to do with finance shows that Li Ying had put a lot of thought and preparation into it.

On the way to the restaurant, Xie Jingxing sent a message to Yu Nian to find out the situation, but his sister-in-law must be busy and didn't reply.

On the other side, Li Ying was also fiddling with her phone, typing away at messages, and arranging for her assistant to deliver rice wine and live fish to the restaurant.

She had thought it through before coming. She would find a place to sit down and chat with Xie Jingxing, act out an act of getting along well, and then go to Qiandao Lake to eat fish together to create a space for interaction.

As a result, the prince consort didn't give him any face, as if he wanted to harm him, so he had to adapt to the situation and try his best to win. Li Ying adjusted the details and turned off the phone screen. With the help of reflections, she checked her makeup calmly. There was no problem. It was a pity that the linen sweater was specially matched for cycling around Qiandao Lake!
Both parties were a little confused, each with their own thoughts, and they arrived at the restaurant chatting in a neutral tone.

Li Ying immediately poured two cups of wine to break the delicate atmosphere: "Mr. Xie, this is a toast to you. I apologize for any misunderstandings I may have caused you."

"You are a senior in the industry, you can just tell me what you have to say." Xie Jingxing shamelessly put himself in a weak position.

Li Ying barely managed to suppress the blood in her heart: "…The wise are the teachers, you are the senior. I came here today just to make friends with you."

"Do you want to make friends with me, or does Yunfeng Fund want to make friends with Taihe?" Xie Jingxing asked.

"I can personally introduce you to a professional land auction service company. Yunfeng hopes to invest in Xiyou's first fund."

Li Ying took a deep breath and put down the wine glass raised in the air: "Both Yunfeng and I want to make friends with you."

"What do you want?" Xie Jingxing perked up.

Li Ying hesitated a little before saying, "Alibaba doesn't want to see another Didi appear and sit on the same board of directors as Tencent again."

Competition in the local life sector is in full swing, but Taodiandian has resorted to legal weapons to pursue users who maliciously exploit the platform subsidy bug to get free stuff. At this point, it can basically be said that the entire project is dead.

Under heavy pressure, Meituan's financing plan has been delayed and its attitude towards Alibaba is ambiguous.

At the same time, Taihe kept trying to get involved in the fight with small moves, and Shen Nanpeng was good at maneuvering and forming gangs to mediate the fight.

From Alibaba's perspective, it is foreseeable that Shen Nanpeng or Taihe will take the lead in joining forces with the investment shareholders to promote the merger of Meituan and Dianping, and then acquire Ele.me.

With the two mergers and acquisitions of Youku Tudou and Didi Kuaidi in the past, everyone now has a deep understanding of the power of venture capital. No one knows what these profit-seeking capital bandits can do to maximize their profits.

The difference between financial investment and strategic investment begins here.

During the Spring Festival, Alibaba was attacked by WeChat red envelopes. The first thing Lu Zhaoxi thought of was to shoot down the acquisition of Didi and Kuaidi. This was not just to pass the buck. Alibaba was really determined to fight to the death with Tencent.

However, the merger process of Didi Kuaidi was almost completed at that time, and going back on its word would offend all the investors, shareholders and relevant regulatory departments behind both parties.

Mr. Ma had to suppress the internal noise and complete the merger step by step. However, when he later teamed up with Tencent to invent the "virtual credit card", he was hit by a big blow from the sky.

Up to now, the offline 'QR code payment' function has not been lifted, and Tencent, which has not yet developed this function, is almost laughing.

Under such circumstances, Alibaba naturally cannot tolerate a merger between Meituan, Dianping, or Ele.me.

There are only a handful of ports that can sustain large-scale offline mobile payment competition. If Alibaba loses Meituan, it will launch "Word of Mouth" at all costs. This battle must be fought!

"Whether there will be a second drop is not something I can decide." Xie Jingxing thought for a long time and said in a deep voice.

Li Ying pursed her lips and said: "If possible, Alibaba supports Taihe to join Meituan."

"Then what? Meituan will fight to the end until there are no winners?" Xie Jingxing couldn't understand what Alibaba was trying to do.

"No, Meituan is determined to fight to the end, and we will be winners together, just like the competition between Taobao and Tencent's e-commerce business. Maybe, I mean maybe Meituan will eventually acquire Dianping and Ele.me as a package, but that should be after they have completely lost."

Li Ying finally solved the mystery.

——Let Taihe and Xiyou choose sides and completely lean towards Meituan and Alibaba to acquire Dianping or Ele.me, kicking Tencent out.

This sounded too fantastical. Xie Jingxing was a little dazed for a moment, not knowing whether he was crazy or Teacher Ma was crazy.

Why does he do this?

"I heard that Xiyou's first RMB fund raised more money than expected. I would like to ask Mr. Xie, is the specific amount 60 billion or 100 billion?"

Li Ying's fingertips couldn't help shaking as she picked up the wine cup and drank it all. She continued to talk to herself, "This is the scale of the first two rounds of Yunfeng Fund. Xiyou can do the same!"

"…The whole market is saying that I have a close personal relationship with Brother Xiao Ma." Xie Jing Xing said in a gloomy tone.

Li Ying blushed slightly and lowered her head to avoid looking at him. Her heart suddenly jumped. Due to her family background, she looked at Xie Jingxing differently from ordinary businessmen.

She knows very well why she was able to become a partner of a fund worth tens of billions at such a young age. Her job within the fund has always been to communicate and coordinate the LP resources of the Zhejiang Merchants Group.

Therefore, she can feel the weight of that surname in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions more than most people.

Even though he looked down on Xie Jingxing for having such a background and still standing on the stage to brag about his fame, on the surface he did his best to show respect, calling him "you" sincerely.

"Please help me arrange a meeting with Mr. Ma."

Seeing Li Ying's frightened look, Xie Jingxing roughly understood that she was just an unlucky girl who was pushed out to test him, so he stood up and left without making things difficult for her.

Taking sides with the Internet competition is just a performance, the core purpose is to pull him to take sides with the capital faction, Chaozhou businessmen or Zhejiang businessmen?

It happened a little faster than expected, and the way it happened was more intense. I hope Teacher Ma can control the situation. This is not a easy thing to talk about.

(End of this chapter)