2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 386 Thick-skinned, he ate his fill.

The terms "lead investor" and "follow-up investor" are actually quite easy to understand from their literal meanings.

To put it simply, co-investment is about pooling money to contribute, but it is precisely this pool of money that SF Express is currently paying close attention to.

In reality, if Sequoia Capital were to provide funding alone, although it could solve the company's funding problems, Wang Wei might not have agreed so readily.

Expansion requires money, and taking out bank loans will put some pressure on the company's finances. However, Wang Wei, who has always been described as mysterious by the capital market and is low-key, is not without ways to raise money.

More important than capital is business and major clients for SF Express's current expansion. A stable major client can save the company several years of trial and error.

Since the SARS outbreak in 2003, the express delivery industry has come into the public eye. After 2005, the express delivery industry entered a period of rapid growth, and the increasing popularity of online shopping also allowed Wang Wei to see the future trend.

At that time, SF Express was quite powerful in South China, especially in express delivery between Guangdong Province and Hong Kong. There were rumors that 70% of the express delivery trucks on the Hong Kong-Tongzhou Highway belonged to SF Express.

Having almost monopolized the South China market, the company's development has entered a bottleneck period, so it is only natural for SF Express to expand nationwide.

Two days later, Tan Jincheng, who was in Hong Kong, received phone calls from Shen Nanpeng and Wang Wei respectively.

"I need to go back. SF Express probably has some news."

"So fast?"

"If there's an intention to cooperate, it will be quite fast, but the specific details certainly won't be so quick."

Orange Technology is just a co-investor, which is relatively easy for them. They appear as a financial investor among SF Express's shareholders. In addition, Orange Technology and SF Express have renewed their strategic cooperation agreement.

Gu Qingqing couldn't help but have some concerns about this investment: "Where will we get so much money?"

Although most of the initial funding for the logistics system came from Ningbo University, Orange Technology couldn't possibly be completely stingy. The items in Happy Farm have also been updated, and more advanced paid items have begun to be launched.

Sales were fairly good, and these paid items made Orange Technology's financials look less bad last year.

Furthermore, due to the firewall setup that Tan Jincheng prepared around Happy Farm, direct competitors, including QQ Farm and Renren.com, had no way to take advantage of it. If they wanted to own Happy Farm, a wildly popular game, they could only cooperate with Orange Technology.

The partnership with QQ Zone uses a 50/50 revenue split; however, Tan Jincheng was not so lenient with Renren.com, with Orange Technology receiving 60% of the revenue from Happy Farm on Renren.com.

When the eldest and second eldest brothers fight, the youngest brother usually dies, not to mention what might happen if they cooperate.

Orange Technology's condition was that he would receive 60% of the data from the school's intranet and the game's revenue. Even though Wang Xin knew it was poison, he could only grit his teeth and accept it.

If they accepted it, there would still be room for mitigation and remediation; if they didn't accept it, it might not be long before all the remaining users of Xiaonei.com would leave. At this point, Wang Xin had already begun to consider selling Xiaonei.com.

It's unplayable now.

Even if they accept it, the market will be eroded sooner or later; for now, they are just trying to prolong their existence by finding buyers.

However, this money cannot be touched; it must be used to maintain the company's normal operating expenses. The several million dollars that Kuang Ping gave us before have been almost completely spent after the server bandwidth was increased.

The internet is a money-burning game, and servers are one of the most expensive components. That's why human wages have been relatively low in recent years, but they will become incredibly high in a few more years.

"It's alright, I'll figure something out. The company's money can't be touched."

"What can you do? Investing in SF Express, even if it's a strategic investment and only a few percent of the shares, would still cost tens of millions. You can't use Flashpoint's money; that's not reasonable."

The collaboration with SF Express was conducted under the name of Orange Technology; using Flashpoint's money would definitely not be acceptable. This isn't a question of whether it's appropriate or not.

“Borrow it from Shen Nanpeng. I’ve already spoken to him.” Tan Jincheng winked at Gu Qingqing.

That's right, that's where Tan Jincheng's shamelessness lies. At that time, SF Express was just a stronger group company in South China, and its valuation was not as outrageous as it would be after it went public in later years. Tan Jincheng remembered that before ZTO Express went public, the last round of financing for 10% of the shares was 5 million RMB.

That was in 2013, when every courier company was seeking financing. There was no other way; the concept of "Internet + Logistics" had become incredibly popular, and if you didn't raise funds, you were doomed.

In a booming market, financing premiums are naturally higher, and ZTO Express is the one with the best financial condition among the four major express delivery companies.

Orange Technology was just a co-investor, so it didn't have much say in SF Express's valuation at that time, but it certainly wasn't stronger than ZTO Express in 2013, right?

That was in 2013. Online shopping had become deeply ingrained in people's lives, and smartphones were becoming increasingly common. The valuation system of the express delivery industry had completely changed.

Therefore, in Tan Jincheng's view, acquiring a 5% stake in SF Express in 2007 would not have cost more than 100 million yuan, at most around 70 to 80 million yuan. 70 to 80 million yuan is a big problem for Orange Technology now, but for Shen Nanpeng, it's a piece of cake. The shameless Tan Jincheng would naturally ask Shen Nanpeng for a loan.

"No way? Borrow money? He'll lend you money?" Gu Qingqing was shocked, then said, "Then you've gotten something for nothing! You got shares without spending a penny."

Haha, Shen Nanpeng had the same expression and said the same thing back then.

He had never encountered anyone asking to borrow money from him to co-invest. Although a few percent of the shares was nothing to him, it was still rather bizarre.

However, Tan Jincheng's words made him doubtful: "Believe it or not, if I don't invest and sign the strategic agreement, you won't be able to get this investment; of course, it doesn't matter if you don't really want to invest."

Whether Shen Nanpeng would vote or not at that time was another matter; he just felt that Tan Jincheng was exaggerating too much.

What, you think I can't get it with my status? Do I really need to involve you? Wouldn't it be better if I kept those few percentage points myself?
However, after inspecting SF Express and recognizing its potential, Shen Nanpeng had some doubts after talking with Wang Wei. Perhaps what that kid said was true?
Investors are good at judging people, and in Shen Nanpeng's view, Wang Wei is a very resourceful and thoughtful person. Shen Nanpeng did not want to delve into where the funds that enabled him to develop SF Express to its current scale came from.

But for people from Guangdong, once their businesses grow big, private financing is actually quite easy; it's really not a problem if they don't want his money.

Indeed, as Tan Jincheng said, Wang Wei values ​​the cooperation with Orange Technology more than the funds. In other words, if he wants to secure this investment, Orange Technology becomes the "bargaining chip" that Shen Nanpeng can offer.

SF Express did not have many public fundraising activities before its listing, which shows that Wang Wei had his own ways of raising money.

As I recall, it was two rounds of funding plus an employee stock ownership plan in between? Commonly known as the Series A+ round.

"Let's go, let's pack up and get ready to go back to Shenzhen."

They've already called, so our trip to Hong Kong is naturally coming to an end. Actually, it's not a big deal; two days of alone time together is quite a rare treat.

When you reach a certain level in your career, you have to sacrifice your personal time.

The kind of scenario where someone makes a fortune, becomes the richest person in the country or even the world, and still has time to travel around having fun only exists in online novels.

In real life, let alone large enterprises, even a company with a few hundred employees, under normal annual revenue conditions, will not have much free time for the boss, unless they don't want to manage it anymore.

If annual revenue is abnormal, then the boss will be even busier.

I called Li Jiamin to tell him that I had to end my trip early and asked him to come over for dinner that evening as a way of expressing my gratitude.

Although Li Jiamin was somewhat disappointed that they had missed a day of spending time together, he was still happy that Tan Jincheng was willing to treat him to a meal, which showed that his efforts over the past two days had paid off.

Stockbrokers in Hong Kong earn a decent income, but the housing prices and cost of living in Hong Kong are extremely high. Li Jiamin also has to support his family and make some investments, so he usually lives a tight life.

In the past two days, he has experienced what it means to live the life of a rich person by following Tan Jincheng. Tan Jincheng has covered all the expenses for their travels and they don't even blink when buying things.

Li Jiamin, who lives in Hong Kong and works in the financial industry, is not so ignorant. He usually has a few luxury items at home.

In his opinion, Tan Jincheng's purchases were not necessarily extravagant, and he was not particularly ostentatious. He did not engage in the kind of behavior depicted in idol dramas where a girlfriend would buy something just because she glanced at it.

But he envied the way people paid their bills so casually; perhaps that's the kind of magnanimity that comes with financial freedom.

I wish I could be like him someday.

"Mr. Li, thank you for your company these past two days. This is just a small token of my appreciation."

At the banquet, Tan Jincheng took out a tote bag and handed it to Li Jiamin with a smile.

Li Jiamin quickly took it and glanced at it. It was a watch worth about 5 Hong Kong dollars. He had glanced at it on the first day he went shopping and thought it was a nice watch. He never expected that Tan Sheng would actually buy it for him.

To reiterate, it's not that I can't afford HK$5, but I just can't bear to spend it.

"This is a bit too expensive, I can't accept it." Li Jiamin was a little touched, not expecting that this young tycoon would notice such a small detail.

"Take this. I'm sorry to have troubled you these past few days, Mr. Li. We mainlanders tend to get along better when it comes to money, so I won't give you a red envelope. Consider this small token of my appreciation as my way of repaying you. We'll meet again someday."

After a moment of silence, Li Jiamin nodded and said, "Then I won't stand on ceremony. Thank you, Tan Sheng. We'll meet again someday."

The phrase "there's plenty of time in the future" carries far more weight than a watch.

(End of this chapter)