Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

Chapter 339 - 236: Internet Turmoil_2

It has already become an insurmountable presence in the industry; even with a telescope, no rival could be found in this field.

Chen Pingsheng himself hoped to turn Tengying Entertainment, the department store, Water Cloud Space, and fresh produce into an indestructible group of core industries.

Only when these core industries were stable could he have a steady stream of capital to support those subsidiary brands.

Song Yanxi handled the transfer of funds very quickly, and neither side used personal accounts.

Instead, they went through Tenghui Capital’s corporate account.

One reason was to avoid the 20% personal income tax,

and the other was to rid themselves of corporate joint liability.

In the company registration section, their own names would not be listed.

After receiving these nine hundred million in funds, he actually could not find a suitable investment channel right away.

Whether it was Antler Coffee or Tenghui Department Store, he had already given at least several billion over the past half year.

Digesting these funds would still take some time.

Chen Pingsheng, who hadn’t yet figured out clear directions for spending the money, received a call from Jiang Jia of Melon Seed Used Cars.

Seriously speaking, this was the first major project he truly invested in under the name of Tenghui Capital.

All other projects were created by himself.

He had not done the same with Melon Seed Used Cars.

As of now, he had only invested two billion,

just taking a mere 50% stake in the company.

For internet projects, two billion is definitely not enough to burn through.

When the agreed time came, Jiang Jia called him.

Previously, updates on Melon Seed Used Cars’ real-time progress were reported to him via email.

At its core, an internet project still aims to solve user pain points.

Take Didi, for example, which solved the problems of waiting and the difficulty in hailing cabs for customers.

In certain respects, Alibaba essentially made product information transparent.

Many blame Alibaba for the downturn in physical retail stores,

but Chen Pingsheng knew that before Alibaba emerged, any clothing store with a cost of 15 yuan per item would at least sell it for over a hundred.

And Melon Seed Used Cars was the same.

The users’ core pain points were still price and lack of transparency in consumption.

Simply put, the price fluctuations in used cars were too great.

You needed to be very knowledgeable about cars not to be cheated.

Influenced by his suggestion, Melon Seed Used Cars’ slogan became "a direct selling network without intermediaries."

Over the past half year, having secured two billion in financing, Melon Seed Used Cars saw rapid development.

At least in the Capital City region, its reputation was excellent.

To expand further into major cities, it would need at least another billion in capital.

This time, Jiang Jia proposed a Series C financing plan, a valuation of thirty billion with a 40% equity dilution, to secure twelve billion for development.

A quick jump to a thirty billion valuation was actually normal.

Such projects can only develop quickly with sufficient funds; intelligence is useless without money.

A 40% dilution of shares meant that if he didn’t follow up with more investment, his original 50% stake would drop to 30%.

Even if the company could eventually go public, he felt it would be meaningless.

If you’re going to bet, bet big.

Investment is essentially high-end gambling; winning brings joy,

while losing just means summarizing the experience and starting over.

No one can guarantee certain success before a project actually goes public. Stay tuned for updates on empire

Chen Pingsheng was no exception.

Should he also follow in this twelve billion financing, it would mean investing six billion himself.

If it were a year ago, he would have had to think it over for a long time.

He might not even have followed up, instead reducing risk by diluting his shares and also lowering potential income.

Chen Pingsheng sat against a simple white sofa and said,

"For the twelve billion financing, I will personally invest six billion. As for the other half, I will find someone to help you complete it. After you get this money, I only have one requirement: spend it quickly and develop rapidly. Moreover, all core operations must revolve around direct sales without intermediaries."

Brands focus on positioning, and internet projects emphasize solving user pain points; undoubtedly, the pain point in the used car market is the lack of transparency in pricing.

Intermediaries make their profit on the price difference.

Customers are afraid of buying overpriced, low-quality products.

After all, no car comes cheap.

As the brand’s lead investor, Chen Pingsheng naturally had to take on some responsibilities.

What he could provide was money, along with star resources and traffic.

To say that Jiang Jia wasn’t happy would be false; he previously struggled to secure financing that now seemed easily solvable because of the addition of big brother Hu Lin.

Chen Pingsheng still sought out Tong Zelan for the six billion.

It wouldn’t be too difficult for her to find one or two additional investors to complete it.

The used car project definitely had great potential.

The key was to see who could emerge as the leader in the end.

There is no runner-up in internet projects.

The winner takes all.

Haven’t you seen how Didi, supported by the big backers of Penguin and Alibaba in the early days, and its competitor, fought in the taxi-hailing domain?

Both had significant capital support, and the end result was that both burned through tens of billions in the fight for market share.

It was during that phase that driving for Didi or its competitor actually paid well.

The subsidies the platform gave to drivers were quite high.

When the two realized that neither could eliminate the other, they quickly merged.

After that, their valuation exceeded four hundred billion.

Now Melon Seed Used Cars, with twelve billion, could suddenly leap to become the top contender in its field.

Without it, it’s doomed to be squeezed out by other used car selling internet apps.