Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Inside the private room of Jinsha Hall at West Lake, the bright lights illuminated the various expressions on everyone’s faces.

Ma Liyun and Liu Zhiping appeared calm and unconcerned. Zhou Shouzhi held his wine glass, a faint, composed smile playing on his lips.

Zhu Xiaohu narrowed his stern, triangular eyes, saying nothing.

The investment directors from Hongyi Capital and Huake Investment Attraction exchanged a glance before suppressing the undercurrents of emotion in their hearts.

Finally, it was Zhai Jun, President of Macquarie Capital’s China Region, who broke the silence. ”President Chen, considering Fast Taxi’s current order volume and scope of operations, even factoring in market potential and growth expectations, its valuation is 300 million US dollars at most. I really don’t understand how you arrived at a 700-million-dollar offer.”

Chen Yansen looked up and said unhurriedly, ”Fast Taxi currently has no competitors, so subsidy pressure is low. I only need one billion to capture the core market of the Eastern Region. This process won’t take more than six months, at which point daily orders will exceed 10 million, and the valuation will be no less than 10 billion US dollars.”

”President Chen, you yourself said that would be six months from now. Can you guarantee that no new competitors will emerge during that time?”

Zhai Jun spread his hands and asked with a smile.

”A ride-hailing app needs at least three months of development to solve issues like hardware device compatibility, positioning accuracy, and communication stability. By the time a competitor launches, Fast Taxi will have already captured the market with the highest business capacity. What will our rivals compete with?”

Chen Yansen said dismissively.

In reality, Fast Taxi had another distinct advantage over its competitors: the backing of Gaode Map.

It could provide powerful map data support, accurately display the locations of passengers and drivers, and offer drivers precise navigation guidance, thereby increasing order acceptance efficiency and reducing passenger wait times.

A ride-hailing app with inaccurate location information, where drivers can’t find passengers and passengers can’t find drivers, would have a hard time gaining market acceptance.

It was precisely because Zhou Shouzhi, Liu Zhiping, and Ma Liyun knew this that they were willing to offer a valuation of over 400 million US dollars.

”I’m sorry, but if President Chen insists on raising Fast Taxi’s valuation to the unreasonable price of 700 million US dollars, then Macquarie Capital can only withdraw.”

Zhai Jun shrugged and shook his head in refusal.

”President Zhai, we’ll have a chance to cooperate in the future.”

Chen Yansen nodded slightly, responding without a hint of concern.

”Everyone, it’s getting late. I’ll be taking my leave.” Zhai Jun raised his wrist, made a show of looking at his watch, and casually rose to depart.

After a moment’s thought, the representative from Hongyi Capital said his goodbyes to Ma Liyun, Liu Zhiping, Zhu Xiaohu, and the others one by one, then walked out with his assistant.

In an instant, two investment firms had backed out in succession.

”President Chen, Huake Investment Attraction’s highest offer is 350 million US dollars. I wonder if that gives me a seat at the negotiating table?” Yu Heng had unilaterally raised his pre-planned offer by a hundred million.

Although Huake Investment Attraction’s offer was the lowest compared to Penguin, Ah Li, and DST, Chen Yansen smiled and said, ”President Yu, you’re being too formal. Fast Taxi’s Series A financing simply can’t do without Huake’s support.”

There was no other way. In 2012, if Fast Taxi wanted to partner with more taxi companies, it first had to obtain an authorization document from the Transportation Association. Otherwise, the taxi companies wouldn’t even give them the time of day.

Cheng Weixing’s connections were limited to Hang City. Once Fast Taxi expanded its business to other cities, it would have to deal with the local transportation associations.

Without the authorization document, the subsequent promotion on the driver’s side would be fraught with difficulties.

But if they could get Huake Investment Attraction on board, the situation would be completely different!

As an old-guard, ”Hua”-brand investment institution, dealing with the Transportation Association wasn’t a difficult matter.

It was this confidence that kept Yu Heng from leaving rashly!