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Xu Mo now had money in hand.
This money couldn’t just sit there; it needed to be invested to generate more wealth.
So, he could potentially undertake more than one venture.
Once the company’s divestment was complete, the four of them would have some leisure time.
According to the plan, they would spend the next six months developing the Pinhao Goods model until it fully developed.
Pinhao Goods wasn’t difficult; the technical requirements were minimal, as long as the model was understood.
This shouldn’t consume much of Xu Mo’s energy.
With leisure time on hand, Xu Mo planned to allocate three billion to develop another massive project. This project had significant influence and would greatly impact people’s lives.
He needed to use three billion to recruit some algorithmic talents and spend another six months developing this massive project.
There were still many things he could do; Xu Mo wasn’t in a rush at all.
…
Xu Mo’s pace slowed down.
On the other hand, Xu Junzhe encountered a lot of trouble.
The growth of shared electric bike users was extremely slow, and even with his investment in advertising, it didn’t yield much effect.
Most of the money was spent in vain.
This was not in line with his expectations.
He originally had nearly a billion in hand, but once he actually started building the company, money flowed out like water, and his funds quickly dried up.
He also wanted to expand rapidly like Xu Mo, so he invested all his money in electric bikes and advertising. However, he didn’t expect the deposits collected to be so minimal, far from enough to cover expenses.
Realizing the crisis, Xu Junzhe immediately drafted a business plan to seek investment, once again seeking support from Xu Manni, Xu Pandi, and others.
Xu Manni and Xu Pandi, wealthy as they were, each gave him ten million, urging him to proceed.
Meanwhile, Xie Bingyan handed him a passbook containing fifty million.
“Take it slow! No rush, be steady,” Xie Bingyan advised.
Xu Junzhe was overjoyed. “Thank you so much, Mom! We’ll start moving immediately and dominate the entire market!”
“Good!”
Despite having this additional funding, Xu Junzhe knew he still needed more financing. Only with adequate funding could his company undergo a revolutionary change in valuation.
So, Xu Junzhe quickly sought out and contacted several investors to discuss with them.
Meanwhile, on the same day, Xu Mo also met with a few people.
These individuals had been previously acquainted, most of whom were active investors in Xiahai City and Beijing. Some of them Xu Mo had encountered at Jiang Pingting’s family banquet.
Someone had invited Xu Mo and a few others to a meal, so Xu Mo and Tang Lei went together. The banquet was lively, with several bigwigs from the Ali Group’s angel investors also in attendance.
In fact, Xu Mo and Tang Lei were also involved in angel investments, albeit on a smaller scale. They had invested in real estate and the gaming industry, which had already yielded some returns.
During this banquet, Xu Mo and Tang Lei met several investors and numerous entrepreneurs.
Among them, there was an entrepreneur working on a product called “Headline News,” seeking an investment of $50 million, which equates to 300 million yuan.
This entrepreneur had already gone through three rounds of financing: an angel round of $3 million, Series A of $1 million, and Series B of $10 million. Now, they were raising funds for a Series C round, the fourth round of financing.
It was reported that the user growth was rapid, with strong development potential and explosive growth capabilities, seeking more investment to expand into diversified development.
Very intriguing!
After discussing with Tang Lei, Xu Mo decided to invest $50 million each, pooling together $100 million to acquire a 10% stake in Headline News.
Just then, Xu Mo saw Xu Junzhe nervously walking up with a business plan in hand, ready to deliver a speech.
He could easily appear here with the identity of Xu’s adopted son.
Xu Mo glanced around and noticed Xu Manni and Xu Pandi were also present.
They were sitting on the other side.
Xu Mo smiled instantly.
During this period, he had someone investigate the shared electric scooter incident, and he got a lot of data. Generally speaking, shared electric scooters have huge real-world problems that cannot be solved.
These problems are definitely not something Xu Junzhe can handle now. He can’t even handle users.
Of course, Xu Junzhe gave a very impressive speech, and he talked a lot about his data and models for everyone to evaluate and review.
Overall, he said that shared electric scooters are a new model of Web based sharing economy, but they are higher than ordinary shared bicycles and should develop greatly.
After he finished speaking, several people applauded him, which made him excited and even more enthusiastic.
It’s undeniable that the Xu family is wealthy!
No one knows how much Xie Bingyan gave him to make him so extravagant, so high-profile, and so talkative!
So, Xu Mo quickly took the microphone.
His voice soon filled the entire venue.
“I just heard about the shared electric scooter incident, very interesting! This model does indeed have certain feasibility! But, it seems this Mr. Xu hasn’t explained one thing clearly! I happen to have data on this!”
“Xu Mo?”
When Xu Mo appeared, Xu Junzhe, Xu Manni, and others immediately changed their expressions, feeling a sudden pang of anxiety.
Many investors present recognized Xu Mo.
After all, Xu Mo was the first person to pioneer shared bicycles, claiming the title of a trailblazer who created a phenomenal enterprise.
Upon hearing Xu Mo speak, many people paused and started discussing.
“Xu Mo, what hasn’t been explained clearly?”
“Do you have any data on your end? Is shared electric scooter viable?” someone loudly asked, wanting to hear Xu Mo’s perspective, given his previous predictions on shared electric scooters’ development.
Upon hearing this, Xu Mo chuckled with some sarcasm, “I just heard this Mr. Xu boasting about how great this model is! But now, I just want to ask him one question: in nearly six months of developing shared electric scooters, how many batteries have been lost? Have they been recovered?”
boom!
With these words, Xu Junzhe’s face turned pale.
Xu Manni and Xu Pandi were stunned.
This data had never crossed their minds.
“With the high cost of electric scooters, expensive rentals, and charging costs, not to mention the high probability of losing batteries that can’t be recovered, once a scooter loses its battery, it’s basically scrapped! I don’t know how accurate Mr. Xu’s user growth data is, but according to our investigation, the probability of losing batteries in so-called shared electric scooters is over twenty percent!”
“So, that means out of a hundred electric scooters, at least twenty would lose their batteries! Faced with such high costs, I’d like to ask them, how do they plan to develop?”
“Furthermore, how do users deal with a deposit as high as 999 RMB? How many people are willing to pay such a large deposit?”
“Many of you may know me! I’ve been in shared bikes, and our team has thoroughly examined the development of shared electric scooters. Without a doubt, this project will soon face huge losses. The larger they expand, the higher the probability of losses! I even suspect now that they may have the risk of a broken funding chain and cannot refund user deposits!”
Xu Junzhe was stunned, looking suffocated, staring at Xu Mo, his hands trembling.
Xu Mo countered swiftly!
Very decisive!
Directly hitting the vital points!
“So, my prediction is that in the short term, shared electric scooters cannot replace shared bikes as the new trend! Its costs and the probability of loss are not even comparable to shared bikes! If you don’t believe me, I can present another set of data!”
“Our team has meticulously calculated the advertising expenditure and frequency of Junzhe’s shared electric scooters. Through our calculations, we found that they spent at least 30 million on advertisements in six months. However, despite this investment, their user growth is less than ten thousand people!”
“In other words, they spend at least 3,000 RMB to attract each user!”
“Soaring costs like these, would you dare to invest? Would you risk facing the threat of financial collapse?”
“I now suspect this project is nothing but a scam, aiming not only to deceive investors but also to swindle users’ deposits!”
“I refuse to invest in this project!”