Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

Chapter 340 - 236 Internet Turmoil_3

Tong Zelan still made the trip; the ace project she had previously led an investment in was about to fail.

Although failure is all too common among investors, this project had received the most funding in the bike-sharing sector.

It also had the backing of big capital giants like Alibaba, Didi, and China Latitude, among others.

Being favored by so many major capitals, it was expected to become the next big player.

At the very least, one would expect it to ultimately make it to a merger!

The essence of bike-sharing is to solve the last-mile transportation problem for customers.

The investment cost per bike is not high, and the companies hold a large amount of customer deposits.

Just because of this, over twenty new bike-sharing brands sprouted up in the market within a year.

In the past two years under Tong Zelan’s leadership, Ofo had become the first to brave this path.

The company had received at least five rounds of financing totaling around 1.3 billion US Dollars.

Tong Zelan hoped that the brand could replicate Didi’s path: rapid financing, expansion, and acquisition of competitors.

The ultimate goal was to achieve a monopoly and then go public.

The only real competitor Ofo faced was Mobike.

Both opted for a similar development approach, spending money quickly to acquire market users.

In this crucial battle, one person became the biggest game changer.

He was the globally renowned investor Sun Zhengyi.

He was the investor who had gained a major stake in Alibaba early on with just 20 million US Dollars.

In considering an investment of 1.8 billion US Dollars in Ofo, he required two prerequisites to be met.

Moreover, he sent a team to investigate the company’s finances.

As it turned out, Ofo’s downfall was right here.

Engaging in too many extraneous businesses before their main operation had succeeded, such as launching satellites and buying every executive a Tesla, etc.

There were also a series of other messy investments.

Ofo, in its desperation to secure Sun Zhengyi’s 1.8 billion US Dollars, spared no expense, disregarding everything else.

In the end, they misappropriated every bit of the customer deposits, a total of four billion US Dollars.

The founder thought that if he met the two conditions set by SoftBank, he would smoothly get his hands on that 1.8 billion US Dollars.

As it turned out, he was wildly mistaken.

One can only say that Ofo’s chaotic financial management caused it to miss this great opportunity.

SoftBank was willing to invest 1.8 billion US Dollars, but it wanted to merge the two largest brands in the market.

To secure a monopoly in the industry.

And thereby achieve a public listing in one fell swoop.

The founder of Ofo, whom Tong Zelan had invested in, single-handedly blocked this merger with his stubbornness.

Perhaps this is just the brashness of youth.

In the end, Ofo was abandoned by the major capitals.

Didi, the one who had invested the most in it, turned to start up Limebike.

Alibaba, on the other hand, propped up Hellobike.

It’s the same old story; big capital rarely places its bets on one person alone.

And the project Tong Zelan invested in turned out to be the most money-burning internet venture of the past two years.

Now, it meets its most miserable Waterloo.

As glorious as it used to be, now it’s as destitute.

Forget about going public — without the support of major capital, they can’t even afford a meal anymore.

This entrepreneurial project that once stood atop the world.

Has now simply turned into a complete mess.

Chen Pingsheng originally kept his distance from the bike-sharing business.

Such money-burning projects, with so many industry giants entering the fray.

His small bit of ammunition couldn’t support his chosen brand in the endgame.

If that’s the case, it’s better to give up early.

Or better yet, not get involved at all.

On this project, Tong Zelan threw in a good seven to eight hundred million and even followed through several investment rounds.

The end result was a defeat due to the founder’s stubborn actions.

Once merged, all the major capitals would consolidate their money into the last remaining company.

Cashing out for her would have been a sure thing.

Now, there’s no one willing to take over even for a low price.

Chen Pingsheng didn’t even bother to look, focusing instead on small projects that he could manage well.

Used cars certainly can’t compare with bike-sharing ventures.

Just look at the fundraising speeds and amounts to understand.

The difference is not slight.

The two fields are not even in the same dimension.

As for the six hundred million in financing needed for this brand, Tong Zelan could still quickly gather it.

Just find another two companies to share the burden.

But she did have one condition: the founder’s veto power had to be removed.

Initially, it was the Ofo founder’s veto power that finished her off. Explore more stories at empire

Now there was no way she would suffer the same loss again.

This wasn’t a problem, after all, even if Chen Pingsheng invested money, he wouldn’t meddle without reason.

An eight hundred million project was not significant enough for him to get personally involved.

There was no need for it, either.

After all, they had been doing this one thing from the start; they couldn’t possibly be worse than him in any case.

The bike-sharing business, an emerging internet project that has been on fire for the last two years, seems to be nearing its final curtain.

Without a doubt, Tong Zelan failed in the last battle.

All the investments made in the early stages have now gone to waste.