After Lin Yi returned to China, he immediately put the special car business on the line with the team, and the other families were naturally not idle when they were busy.

On August 4, Uber, which had visited Wanli, Dudu and Kuaidu, but rejected the brutal acquisition proposal, finally made a move and released the "People's Uber" service in China.

It can be seen that this name is trying very hard to be down-to-earth.

The essence of this business is the landing of the "UberX" product line in China, and the positioning is lower than the UberBlack luxury car business on which Uber started.

And the reason why Uber started this business is not because Kalanick happily makes the money of the rich and does not forget to hug the poor ghosts.

After Uber became popular, a ride-hailing software company named Lyft appeared in the United States with a similar business but a different positioning, adopting differentiated competition, focusing on economic and practical customers.

This is popular among young people, mainly because they are generally less financially able.

In addition, even if they can afford it, young people who pursue freedom and new fashions are not very comfortable with the feeling of getting out of an old-fashioned and solemn black luxury car, and in the human language, it is probably "easy to pretend to be too much and lose friends".

In short, the rapid development of Lyft has aroused the alarm of Uber, which is why it has come up with the product UberX to compete with each other.

Previously, Uber's main driver and passenger base in China were executives of Fortune 500 companies, and they even used it as a fun way to socialize.

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Now after the localization of Uberx, it can be regarded as a large-scale entry into the domestic market, after all, there are still a few who can afford luxury cars.

Of course, Uber didn't just announce it, they came up with a big promotion plan, but compared with the traditional conservatism of their domestic counterparts, their marketing methods are called "brain-opening".

For example, Uber will come up with several examples of using helicopters to pick up passengers, adding a sense of technology and futurism to its software, which makes young people think it is cool.

For another example, Uber will also invite domestic big-name stars to serve as drivers, pull a few customers to pose for countless photos, and it is essentially a brand endorsement.

Although Lin Yi finds it boring, because ordinary passengers do not need helicopters to travel and do not have the opportunity to let celebrities drive for themselves, these methods have at least been widely spread on social media.

Coupled with Uber's own American aura, hipsters in big cities still eat this tonality, so Uber's brand promotion effect is very good.

It's not that second- and third-tier cities aren't trendy, but fans there will have to wait a little longer, because Uber is currently only operating in first-tier cities.

In short, Kalanick waved a lot of US dollars and announced to all his peers in the domestic taxi market in a high-profile manner:

Lao Tzu is here.

Of course, it's not just Wanli Chuxing that pays attention to Uber, but also all of them are obviously observing its movements all the time.

The policy communication of the special car business this time was actually a joint effort between the three companies, but to Lin Yi's surprise, the second one to make a move after Wanli Travel was not Dudu, but Kuaidu.

Kuaidu lagged behind in the subsidy war before taking a taxi, and the taxi market was already at a disadvantage, and it had long been looking forward to the second battlefield.

This time the special car business is a great opportunity, and we are ready to catch up.

Although Kuai does not have the aura of Uber, in terms of the size of the action, the investment in the special car market will only be above Uber, but it is the object of Lin Yi's more vigilance.

What is Cheng Wei doing at this time?

Lin Yi quickly figured it out, because Liu Qing's position after joining Dudu was COO, and she also served as the head of Dudu's special car business.

In other words, her position in the capital is on par with Li Moyan, who travels thousands of miles, not Liu Jianni.

But Liu Qing is also doing CFO work, Lin Yi and Liu Jianni met Cheng Wei and Liu Qing at San Francisco Airport when they left the United States, and they obviously haven't completed their itinerary yet.

Busy enough.

This also means that the boss of Dudu taxi and the person in charge of the car business are looking for money abroad at the same time, so it's no wonder that they have to be half a beat slower.

"Why is Liu Qing the COO instead of the CFO?"

Lin Yi also interviewed Liu Jianni on this issue.

"The reason why Cheng Wei went to great lengths to invite Liu Qing to Dudu to take a taxi is, of course, because of her Goldman Sachs background and her family background."

"He took Liu Qing with him, or Liu Qing took him to the United States to attract investment, which also proves this, that is, Cheng Wei used Liu Qing as CFO."

"But Liu Qing obviously doesn't think so, although CFO can also be a partner, but what she means as COO should be that she doesn't want to stop at the division of labor and cooperation between Jack Ma and Cai Chongxin, but wants to be more deeply involved in the business level of Dudu taxi and become a real manager."

Liu Jianni didn't say anything more about her analysis here, she is more familiar with Liu Qing, but the identities and roles of the two are very different.

Lin Yi could feel the subtext that she didn't have to say.

If Liu Qing wants to take a taxi in Dudu, he will inevitably share the power that originally belonged to Cheng Wei, and Cheng Wei has paid enough price for Liu Qing.

Although I don't know the equity distribution in Dudu, it is obvious that Liu Qing must have gotten much more in Dudu than Liu Jianni in Wanli.

Why did Cheng Wei give Liu Qing such a special opportunity?

Goldman Sachs' MD is indeed very good, but that is relative to ordinary people. With the scale of today's Dudu taxi, MD Cheng Wei, who can't beat the eight poles, can be completely ignored, let alone in a hurry to ask for cooperation.

Of course, it's because of Ms. Liu's own excellence.

Anyway, because of his experience in his previous life, Lin Yi has always regarded Cheng Wei as Dudu's biggest competitor in taxis.

And now that Cheng Wei and Liu Qing are converging, although he has expected it, he is still very afraid of this combination.

This idea has not been shared even within the management, only Li Moyan can vaguely feel that Lin Yi's vigilance against Dudu taxi is even above the menacing Uber.

It also turns out that although Dudu is a little slower by half a beat this time, it is not too far behind.

I don't know if Cheng Wei and Liu Qing returned to China, or if they were remotely commanding in the United States, in short, they closely followed Uber and Kuaidu to launch their own special car business.

After this, Lin Yi put his perspective back on Wanli Travel's own body, why did he suddenly discuss the matter of Cheng Wei and Liu Qing with Liu Jianni?

"The financing thing is eyebrow-raising."

Liu Jianni told him, "I found a heavy investor, and I showed a strong interest and full confidence in the taxi industry during the early communication. ”

"If we can convince him, and with the results we have previously negotiated in the United States, the platter of this round of financing should be enough to complete."

In terms of time, the financing of this period is also urgent, otherwise they need to ask for help from the bear factory or as Liu Jianni planned at the beginning, an additional A2 round.

These are all secondary options, and Lin Yi is of course very interested in the big donor:

"Who are we going to see this time?"

"Zhang Lei of Kaolin Capital."