Shockingly, a counterfeit factory has produced a 3-nanometer chip.

Chapter 330: 30% Sold in Series B Round

"What you need to do now is not a small matter, not making furniture, but building an ecosystem."

Ecology requires spending money, a lot of money.

"You don't have enough money in your account, so we, the old shareholders, discussed it and all felt this was an opportunity, provided you're willing to accept the current valuation."

Lei Jun's smile froze instantly. Valuation!

He really didn't want to talk about this topic.

When he tried to enter the Indian market, he was once again targeted by Transsion and betrayed by his partner. Although profits increased, sales remained unreliable.

This led to a pessimistic market sentiment towards rice, resulting in this valuation...

"Old Chen, name your price."

On the other end of the phone, Chen Qiming chuckled; Lei Jun was still digging a hole for him.

"Old Lei, that's not fair of you, is it?"

Valuation is not determined by me, but by the market.

I've arranged a place for you to come tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. There will be several old and new friends here, not just me.

Let's talk face to face.

The phone hangs up.

Lin Bin watched Lei Jun's changing expression and a hint of anticipation appeared on his face.

"Who is it?"

Lei Jun put down his phone, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"They're just giving away money!"

At 9:50 a.m. the next day, Lei Jun's car stopped at a private club.

He had been to this place before, but the last time he was here was when rice was valued at $50 billion.

Pushing open the door to the private room, I found five people already seated inside.

Chen Qiming sat in the main seat, with Xu Da from his Shunwei Capital, as well as some partners from Goldman Sachs and Hillhouse Capital, to his left.

"Old Lei, please have a seat."

Chen Qiming stood up to shake hands, and the others followed suit.

After they were seated, the staff left the private room without any hesitation.

"Old Lei, everyone here is an acquaintance, so let's not beat around the bush."

Yesterday's Weibo post was very impressive and had a grand concept. This direction is correct and represents the largest piece of the current technology consumer market.

The problem is that the cake is too big and the cutlery is too expensive.

The valuation of rice cannot support this goal.

Lei Jun nodded: "Qiming, you're right, so I came today."

I'm counting on you all today!

Seeing Lei Jun's straightforwardness, Mr. Zhang from Goldman Sachs also smiled.

So he got straight to the point.

"We discussed it and our initial idea is that Dami Automotive and Dami Smart Home can raise funds independently, or you can package them together."

But regardless of how the financing takes place, the core condition is that DaMei Group must release more than 30% of its shares this time.

Lei Jun glanced at the meeting and saw that Xu Da, the co-founder of Shunwei Capital, had also not attended.

It was like Lei Jun's eyelid twitching.

More than 30%.

Although the company has gone through three rounds of financing, the founding team still holds 74.5% of the shares and maintains stable control.

If more than 30% of the shares are released to external investors at once, it means that the founding team's control may fall below the first warning line of 50%.

"30%?"

Lei Jun picked up his teacup and blew on the steam.

"Mr. Zhang, do you think the rice business is currently short of funds?"

My friend Chen Qiming played the bad cop.

"Old Lei, don't be angry. We only want equity, not management rights."

We won't concern ourselves with trivial matters, but we will absolutely support you on the big picture.

Mr. Zhang from next door also softened his tone considerably: "Although we want a larger amount, this is the valuation we're giving you!"

After saying that, Mr. Zhang from Goldman Sachs held up his hand and showed a number.

But this seemingly large number didn't move Lei Jun; he simply blew on his teacup again...

"Last year we were valued at 50 billion, now we want 30%, so they'll give us a valuation of 70 billion."

We can't have a better relationship with each other, leading to a lower valuation!

Faced with Lei Jun's appeal to family ties, all the investors shook their heads in unison.

"Mr. Lei, that was last year."

Last year, Xiaomi phones were still among the top five in sales in China.

Valuation has always been based on value. You're an experienced investor, and you know that in the valuation market, the longer the time frame, the higher the valuation.

Rather, its valuation depends on its business, market share, and user expectations; it can rise when business is strong and fall when business is weak.

Xu Da then demonstrated his value: "Actually, its valuation is indeed a bit low, after all, this is a trillion-dollar market for both car manufacturing and smart homes."

The real estate market is booming right now. If DaMi Smart Home captures 20% of the market, it will become a company worth hundreds of billions. Should we aim for even more?

Before Xu Da could finish speaking, the other representatives started coughing.

Their faces all screamed, "I know you're one of us, there's no need for this..."

"Well then, since Mr. Xu has brought it up, let's give him face and go for 75 billion. As for the 30% stake, we can cooperate with Mr. Lei's actions, such as poaching some giants in the automotive industry."

Then, they release information intermittently to maintain public confidence in DaMi Auto.

Lei Jun argued with the group for a long time, but still couldn't change their minds.

After all, Lei Jun's words are all sweet, but reality doesn't always listen to him.

At 3 PM that afternoon, the official Weibo account of the rice brand posted a message with only one sentence:

"Thank you for your support, old friends. The Series B financing of Dami has officially ended."

Dami Auto and Dami Smart Home officially launch.

This is a photo of the signing ceremony. Lei Jun is standing in the center, flanked by partners from Qiming Venture Partners, Shunwei Capital, Goldman Sachs, and other institutions. Each of them is holding a contract and they all seem very optimistic about the future of DaMi Company.

Just as all Mi Fans were beginning to be surprised, Lei Jun posted another touching long article, trying to awaken Mi Fans once again.

I've seen a lot of comments these past few days.

Some people questioned the authenticity of the rice company's car manufacturing, saying that we can't even make a proper mobile phone, yet we want to build cars. Others said that we are just trying to ride the wave of popularity, telling stories, and making cars through PowerPoint presentations.

I don't blame them.

Because they don't understand rice, and they don't understand me. The name Lei Jun still carries some weight in the investment world.

I am now formally responding to all the questions.

Today marks the official completion of your company's Series B financing round, raising an additional $22.5 billion at a valuation of $75 billion.

Originally, we didn't want to raise so much money, since with the support of Mi Fans, 10 billion would be enough, but unfortunately, all the investors who came were top-tier investment banks!

Their investment signifies their confidence in the rice company's future, and refusing wouldn't look good, so in the end, everyone shared a little, resulting in us receiving a slightly larger share. This gave us more capital to expand our operations significantly!

Finally, Lei Jun left a silhouette photo.

Some fans carefully pieced together the information and finally discovered that the answer was 2016.

Three years later?

Wouldn't that be very fast?