Zhang Yida and Lei Dongming drove to the AVIC Building in Haiding District today.

As soon as I went upstairs, I saw Zhang Ming, who had been waiting at the front desk for a long time.

Zhang Ming is thirty years old, wearing a black sweatshirt, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, not tall, he looks thin and small, and his temperament is gentle, and he knows at a glance that he is a technical background.

Zhang Yida and Lei Dongming stepped forward to say hello to Zhang Ming and shook hands.

Zhang Ming didn't say much, so he took the two of them directly to the company.

After Zhang Yida joined Toutiao Company, he looked around, and the office area was still quite large, with more than 100 programmers sitting in the open office area, all of whom were working hard.

In addition, the decoration of the office is also very simple, there are no bells and whistles, just paint the walls, set up tables and chairs, and some green potted plants.

The first feeling that this company gave Zhang Yida was "pragmatic, not exaggerated." ”

Zhang Ming took the two to his office, sat on the sofa, and asked the administration to serve two cups of hot tea.

Zhang Ming spoke first: "I invited the two of you here this time, mainly to hear a colleague convey that your company intends to invest in the headlines, right?"

Lei Dongming smiled: "Yes, we do have the intention to invest in Toutiao, and I came here today to talk to Mr. Zhang about this matter." ”

Zhang Ming nodded, and asked again: "Is Rui always the main investor to contribute?"

Lei Dongming didn't answer and looked at Zhang Yida.

Zhang Yida actually wants to use Rui as an investor, but because he has no money, he can only pull up a venture capital fund to enjoy this high return dividend.

Rui has always been invested, and he is a major shareholder who can get most of the profits. In the case of venture capital, it is the 20% management fee, and most of it helps investors make money.

But it is not without benefits, after two or three years, after a few small giants have become powerful, their own venture capital funds will be in the limelight, and then raising funds and investing is as simple as drinking water.

beckoning, investors are rushing to invest. On the investment target, it will also make valuation concessions and expand the supply of shares because it is a well-known venture capital. In short, the benefits are numerous.

On the way here, Zhang Yida thought about all this, and did not get entangled, and replied directly: "I set up a new venture capital fund and invested in Toutiao in the name of a venture capital fund." ”

After Zhang Ming heard this, he began to think about it, originally thinking that Rui Xiang was investing in the headlines, and thought that he could strengthen cooperation with Ruixiang in the financial field in the future. If it's a venture capitalist, as long as you can afford it, it's fine!

Zhang Ming replied with a smile: "Venture capital is also fine, the effect is the same." It's just that I thought it was Ruixiang to invest, and I thought that the follow-up headlines could also strengthen cooperation with Ruixiang in the financial field. ”

Zhang Yida understood as soon as he heard it, probably wanting to invite Ruixiang to settle in Toutiao, produce financial content for them, and cooperate with traffic and advertising.

So he said with a smile: "It's no problem, I'll arrange the following docking later, and you can cooperate with the content, traffic, and advertising." ”

Zhang Ming also happily agreed: "Okay, then it's such a happy decision." Let's talk about venture capital!"

Then, Lei Dongming, as a senior investment expert, began to ask a series of questions, he asked, and Zhang Ming answered.

Q: "What are the current number of users of Toutiao?"

A: "Toutiao has 100 million active users and more than 30 million monthly active users. ”

Q: "At present, there are many news websites and apps on the market, how can Toutiao stand out from them?"

Answer: "After exploring the value of the first phase of the product and improving the product form, Toutiao has now entered the second stage of rapid development.

Unlike the previous first stage, which focused on algorithm training, this stage, Toutiao has begun to focus on product features and optimizing user experience.

The main purpose of a large number of new content presentation and distribution methods is to help users obtain more accurate information in Toutiao products and improve user retention and usage time.

In terms of content, Toutiao has also begun to add new channels, and at the same time, in terms of traffic acquisition, it supports more ways to obtain traffic, such as sharing to QQ, WeChat Moments, etc., to help Toutiao quickly obtain traffic.

These contents, recommendations, and traffic are introduced in a way that paves the way for Toutiao's rapid growth.

Next, Toutiao will enter a period of rapid growth, leaving all opponents behind. ”

Q: "In addition to algorithms, content, and traffic, are there any other killer features of Toutiao?"

A: "Toutiao has established the largest growth hacker team in China, and it is currently the top hacker growth team in the country.

At this stage, the products and operations are actually driven by the growth team. Technology is another of our strengths. ”

......

Lei Dongming asked a series of questions, and Zhang Ming answered them one by one.

Lei Dongming glanced at Zhang Yida and signaled that he was done.

Zhang Yida looked at Zhang Ming with a smile, drew a "1", and said: "There is one last problem, Toutiao has been relying on crawler algorithms to scrape content, you don't produce content, only distribute content, how to solve the content copyright problem?"

Zhang Ming's face was a little unnatural, and he was silent for a long time, and then said: "Money, as long as there is money, I will pull them into the platform together to share the advertising fee together, and change from confrontation to cooperation." When everyone's interests are aligned, there will be no copyright disputes. ”

The corners of Zhang Yida's mouth rose, and the major media copyright companies in the previous generation began to sue Toutiao, demanding that Toutiao pay copyright fees.

The final solution is to discuss with major media companies, invite media companies to settle in Toutiao, and everyone can make money together.

Since 2015, Toutiao has also undergone a big transformation, from a content distribution platform to a content production platform.

And Toutiao began to match the WeChat public account, machine distribution vs social distribution.

At the same time, in order to solve the supply problem on the content side, Toutiao released the support 1000 Toutiao number plan.

Later, Toutiao added original content and tipping functions to help content creators obtain greater benefits.

Through these means, Toutiao laid the foundation for take-off and completed the Leaping Dragon Gate.

Zhang Yida leaned back, lifted Erlang's legs, looked at Zhang Ming and said, "Then let's talk about valuation!"

Zhang Ming lifted his glasses and said: "Toutiao has gone through a total of 3 rounds of financing so far, from an angel round of 5 million yuan, to a round of financing of $1 million, and then to a B round of financing of $10 million in September last year. ”

After a pause, he glanced at Zhang Yida and continued: "At present, we want to expand the team and market scale, and we are seeking a Series C financing of 100 million US dollars. Dilution of 10% stake at post-investment valuation of $1 billion. ”

Zhang Yida didn't hesitate, and directly agreed: "OK, we voted." ”

Zhang Ming and Lei Dongming were a little surprised, didn't they bargain?

seemed to understand what they were thinking, Zhang Yida smiled faintly and said: "I'm optimistic about the future of Toutiao, and I'm also optimistic about Brother Zhang Ming, we're on this trip." ”

Next, the two parties communicated the details, organized due diligence, and signed the investment agreement after confirming that there were no problems.

Huayi Capital invested $100 million in Headlines, accounting for 10% of the shares.

The first tranche of $30 million will be received immediately, the second tranche of US$30 million will be received in 3 months, and the third tranche of 40 million US dollars will be received in 6 months.

Zhang Ming did not express any objections, and it is normal for venture capital funds to arrive in batches.

In fact, Zhang Yida has no money here, and so far he has only raised enough $60 million, and half of it has been removed at once.

Zhang Yida and Lei Dongming founded Huayi Capital, and the first phase of the US dollar fund has only raised $60 million.

Yimin Wealth helped raise $20 million for the distribution, and entrusted some other third-party wealth management companies, such as Noah, to sell $20 million, and Lei Dongming pulled from a fund of funds to $20 million with his past resume. A total of $60 million.

The division of the two shares in Huayi Capital is also divided according to the amount of funds raised, with Zhang Yida 66.7% and Lei Dongming 33.3%.

With the remaining $30 million, the two went to Didi again.

Chen Wei's face is round, slightly fat, and with eyes, he looks quite loyal and honest.

At this time, it is inseparable from the fast killing, and the money burning battle is in progress. Looking at the investors who came to the door, it was a warm welcome.

Lei Dongming, as an expert, continued to ask questions, and Chen Wei also answered them one by one.

Everything went well, the main problem was stuck in the size of the financing.

Chen Wei said resolutely: "At present, Didi has gone through 4 rounds of financing, and my shares account for less than 50%, and I can only release 5% of my shares in this C+ round of financing." ”

Zhang Yida is a little dissatisfied, that is, while you are still relatively cheap, you are ready to copy the bottom and buy more, you tell me to sell less, that is not good.

Zhang Yida said with a tough attitude: "I am still very optimistic about the taxi industry, if you don't want my investment, then I will invest in Kuai!"

When Chen Wei heard this, his eyes were about to erupt with fire. But after calming down, I felt that if Zhang Yida really invested quickly, then the war would have to be tug-of-war, and it was not certain who would kill the deer!

When the two sides were at a stalemate, Lei Dongming played a round, and the two sides each took a step back and reached an agreement on the condition of financing 7.5%.

In January '14, Penguin and CITIC invested $100 million, and Didi's post-investment valuation was $1 billion.

Now, two months later, the valuation has risen to $1.2 billion.

Huayi Capital invested US$97.5 million, accounting for a 7.5% stake in Didi, which has a post-investment valuation of nearly US$1.3 billion.

The first tranche of $30 million was in place immediately, the second tranche of US$30 million, and the third tranche of US$37.5 million were in place in 3 months and 6 months later.

Zhang Yida and Lei Dongming combined, the current difference in venture capital funds is still 137.5 million US dollars, and it must be made up within 6 months. In addition, a second tranche of $60 million will have to be allocated three months later.

There is a lot of pressure, in addition to Yimin Wealth and the entrusted third-party wealth management institutions to help raise funds, you also have to find other local tyrants.

After some discussion, I am going to start with the alumni circle first, and find Robin Li and Senior Brother Dongfang Yu to try.