After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future

In early May, before heading to Beijing, Lu Liang casually attended Panda's financing meeting.

With a valuation of 280 million US dollars, Panda offered 25% of its shares and received 446 million dollars in financing funds from five venture capital firms including LeEco, Golden Sand River, and Chenhai.

As soon as Lu Liang arrived, he encountered Jia Yuetting, who was all smiles and chatting cheerfully, seemingly rejuvenated after securing a billion in financing to clear some loans and get the court case dismissed.

It seemed that LeEco was leading the investment again, fiercely throwing 158 million RMB into Panda, as if to declare to outsiders that LeEco was still standing strong, and Old Jia was still spirited.

"Mr. Lu, I heard you are going to invest in Li Xiang?"

Boss Jia looked slightly resentful. NIO invested, Li Xiang invested, but why not invest in his LeSEE?

If he could get Lu Liang's investment, he could raise another three billion, possibly giving him a second shot at life.

The financial situation at LeEco was actually much more severe than people imagined, severe enough that he booked a flight to the United States every day, ready to seek opportunities there.

"Last time I went to Beijing, I had a pleasant conversation with Li Xiang. I am quite optimistic about the new energy industry." Lu Liang smiled.

"What do you think of our LeSEE?" Jia Yuetting asked.

"It's quite promising, the connected car ecosystem has great potential, perhaps it will be mainstream in the future," Lu Liang expressed his admiration undisguised.

Jia Yuetting brightened up, sensing an opportunity, "Mr. Lu, our LeSEE is going to have its Series B fundraising next week."

"LeSEE is a good project, but it shouldn't be under the LeEco name. We prefer to invest in startups."

Lu Liang maintained his smile, sharing his company's investment philosophy, which was also a tactful way of declining LeEco's fundraising invitation.

A company can be entangled in lawsuits for failing to pay suppliers or for other reasons, but should not be sued by banks for loan defaults.

The reasons for failing to pay suppliers can vary, such as substandard quality or delayed delivery, which cannot satisfy inspectors.

But there's only one reason for failing to pay back bank loans and that's simply having no money.

And Lu Liang was also telling the truth, he preferred to invest in developing companies, wanting to save his first substantial investment for Ningde Era, to help Ningde break through to a trillion market value sooner.

"Well, coincidentally, Mr. Lu, you might not know this, but I founded a new energy vehicle company called Faraday Future in Las Vegas two years ago."

Jia Yuetting was excited, feeling he found a like-minded person, and decided to start anew as he thought LeEco was past the point of return.

A hint of speechlessness flashed in Lu Liang's eyes. Old Jia really thrived on the slightest of positivity. He turned to Little Wang, "Mr. Jia, let's find another time to talk in detail; Mr. Wang seems to be looking for me about something."

"Ah, alright, alright."

Jia Yuetting nodded repeatedly, watching Lu Liang walk away, and suddenly felt this opportunity was half successful.

Lu Liang, more famous in Europe and America than domestically, dominated the Wall Street scene for so many years. Few could make Wall Street bow down.

Just like NIO unveiling a concept car, the EP9, and it being hyped to a valuation of two hundred million dollars, which was generally considered overvalued in Europe and America.

A bit high?

That meant that just a slight reduction would make the valuation reasonable.

A high-performance assembled car valued at two hundred million.

Jia Yuetting's eyes turned red with envy.

He was well aware that this had something to do with Lu Liang.

Li Bing knew too damn well where to hold the new car launch, in London, right after Lu Liang had shorted the British Pounds.

With Brexit causing the Pound to plummet, Lu Liang might not have earned the most, but he certainly was the most dazzling.

Li Bing, during an interview with The Times, also carefully chose his words, saying their NIO vehicle was the project Lu Liang had invested the most money in over the past year.

His statement wasn't wrong; a single investment of tens of millions of dollars was indeed the major investment Lu Liang made last year.

The venture capitalists, loving both the house and its crow, felt that NIO vehicles indeed had something to offer.

Man's reputation, like a tree's shadow.

Hating Lu Liang didn't mean they didn't respect him.

Boss Jia secretly decided, as long as Faraday could secure an investment from Lu Liang, he would flee directly to the United States and lay low for several years.

After achieving results, he planned to make a triumphant return, so he wouldn't have to constantly battle the severe internal strife due to LeEco's finances.

"What's up?"

Wang Xiaocong was completely confused, seeing Lu Liang quickly approaching, while the person talking to Little Wang tactfully smiled, greeted, and left.

"Just came to see." Lu Liang shook his head and chuckled; Old Jia was too enthusiastic, he was a bit hard to handle.

Wang Xiaocong didn't ask much and began to talk about the details of the financing, mainly signing a stock repurchase agreement.

Three years later, if they couldn't meet the listing requirements, they would need to repurchase 25% of the equity raised this time at a 10% premium.

"Is it Panda, or is it you?" Lu Liang asked.

"It's Panda," Wang Xiaocong said softly.

He thought it over and decided to follow through to the end. If they couldn't be listed in three years, he would simply apply for bankruptcy.

By then, sell what needed to be sold, at most compensate a hundred million or so, and then live peacefully as a rich second generation.

Lu Liang heard his plan to go all in and sighed, "Don't be too ambitious, stabilize until you get listed before you stir things up."

His equity had been diluted in two rounds, left with only 9.56%, even if Panda applied for bankruptcy, the responsibility wouldn't fall on him, it would just mean a loss on the initial investment.

"When the money is spent, if there are still no results, I'll go seek out Tencent or Ali."

Little Wang showed a helpless expression, after being beaten down, he had gotten honest. Internet entrepreneurship was impossible to go through without dealing with these two giants, and Lu Liang wasn't willing to support him like he supported Douyin.

Without major capital backing and unwilling to get close to Ali or Tencent, entrepreneurship was damn hard.

"Tencent is reliable, Ali has money."

Lu Liang left these words and then left the venue.

He would support Douyin because Douyin could bring him benefits, but supporting Little Wang, he couldn't see any benefit.

That noon, Lu Liang took a flight to Beijing to attend a financing meeting for Li Xiang. This financing amounted to two hundred million dollars, with Tianxing Assets contributing twenty million, acquiring 10% equity in Li Xiang.

This time it was said to be financing, but it was actually a follow-up investment, some couldn't keep up, inviting Lu Liang to take his place, only needing to provide 1% of the funds to gain 10% equity.

But they still called it financing because it was a good opportunity to raise the valuation.

After the meeting, Zhu Hu found Lu Liang and mentioned that Zhang Yiming intended to meet him for a chat.

"The recent moves you've made have really made a big impact."

Zhu Hu said with a smile.

With the support of Lu Liang's funds, Douyin's recent valuation had soared, nearly reaching eighty million dollars.

If they now removed restrictions and allowed outsiders in, numerous people would wave their money and line up to join, unlike the falsely inflated two billion dollars valuation of Liang and NIO.

"That was not my intention," sighed Lu Liang.

In the mobile phone industry, he knew Lei Jun, which he had also met through NIO. Now with the mobile sector creating a buzz around the city, and even blaming him as the instigator, where could he go to argue his case.

"The greater your ability, the larger your responsibility," Zhu Hu reflected.

"That doesn't sound like something you would say," Lu Liang said in shock.

Zhu Hu laughed, "Maybe I've been with Shen Peng, that bastard, for too long, and he's rubbed off on me."

The two of them chatted and laughed, preparing to leave.

Li Xiang suddenly stopped Lu Liang: "Mr. Lu, is Huaqing's research institute developing Vehicle Machine 3.0?"

Vehicle Machine was a shorthand, which could be called an automotive computer, or smart control system, or onboard navigation, but Vehicle Machine was simpler and more straightforward.

The concept of Vehicle Machine was first introduced in the 1980s. Vehicle Machine 1.0 only had tape playback and radio functions. Vehicle Machine 2.0, which is the mainstream in today's market, included DVD, MP3, and navigation features.

Arriving at Vehicle Machine 3.0, the third-generation product needs to incorporate a driver assistance system, a 360° 3D panoramic driving visual assistance system, and a new smooth UI 2.0 information aggregation desktop.

Globally, only Tesla's Vehicle Machines have reached 3.0; this is one of the reasons why Tesla dares to ask for high prices with its bare interior, much like Apple.

Lu Liang nodded in acknowledgment, "But at the moment, I've only just assembled the research team."

He was also planning to visit the research institute to check how well the team was being organized. After all, having invested twenty million dollars, one can't just listen to the noise.

This money was his own.

"Mr. Lu, if the research institute achieves results, please make sure to inform us promptly," Li Xiang said sincerely.

He understood Lu Liang's intentions; Vehicle Machine was like the mobile systems of the past, once widely accepted and setting the standards, he would just need to lie at home and collect money.

Li Xiang also had the idea of developing Vehicle Machine, but research is a money pit, they didn't have the energy or funds to waste on it.

If there were a mature Vehicle Machine system available, Li Xiang wouldn't mind cooperating with Tianxing Technology, and that could bring him even closer to Lu Liang.

The current new energy vehicle industry is like the mobile industry of ten years ago when just assembling phones was enough, who cared about the system?

Surely, Li Xiang's future would involve in-house development of Vehicle Machine, but right now, the company's main task was to survive.