My Age of Investment

The next day, on the 101 highway back to Silicon Valley, Xia Jingxing received a call from Eberhard.

"Daeron, I have to inform you..."

The other end of the phone paused for a long time before continuing with a laugh: "The Roadster has made a major breakthrough in technology, and we think it's time to accept external orders."

Fuck!

When Xia Jingxing heard the other party pause, he thought the battery had blown up again, but his shock turned into surprise.

"Really? Can you start accepting orders from customers?"

Xia Jingxing's voice was also somewhat joyful, it had been a year and a half since he invested in Tesla.

During this period, he injected a total of US$16.3 million into Tesla in two installments.

Among them, the A round of financing was 7.5 million US dollars, of which he personally led the investment of 6.3 million US dollars, and won 42% of the equity, which has now been diluted to 33.33%;

The B round of financing was 13 million US dollars, and Envision Capital Lichun Fund led the investment of 10 million US dollars, taking 15.88% of the equity.

Taken together, he actually holds a total of 49.21% of Tesla’s shares, nearly half.

Therefore, he has always been extremely concerned about the development of Tesla.

Since the beginning of this year, he has focused more on Facebook's development, fading out, work handover, and the construction and creation of Vision Capital.

I didn’t go to the Tesla factory much, but I still maintain a weekly phone call with Eberhard, or a weekly work email communication frequency.

How can he not be pleasantly surprised to hear that Tesla has finally begun to accept orders and start selling cars.

It's just that this is only the first step of the Long March, and there are still many challenges ahead.

But in any case, this is also a quite milestone.

After calming down, Xia Jingxing said with a smile: "Congratulations to you, and to all the staff, you have accomplished a remarkable feat.

This step taken by Tesla is destined to leave a strong mark in the history of electric vehicle development. "

Eberhard was also very happy on the other end of the phone,

It has been three years since he and Tarpenning founded Tesla.

In the middle, they went through a bankruptcy crisis and experienced sacrificing the majority shareholder's seat to attract venture capital in exchange for a chance of survival.

Now, finally ushered in the dawn of victory.

As long as the car can be built and sold, and it can become a successful car manufacturer like Ford, it is worthwhile to sell most of the shares in his opinion.

Building an electric car is a crazy act with a huge investment, and it cannot last for a long time with his own strength.

In the past, he underestimated the cost and difficulty and almost bankrupted Tesla. Fortunately, he brought in the big money lord Darren Xia.

He got along very happily with Xia Jingxing, the major shareholder. He was not only familiar with the electric vehicle industry, but also very supportive of their work, and he never frowned when he made money.

No, he was going to ask Xia Jingxing for money again.

"Dai Lun, although we can obtain a certain amount of cash flow by receiving orders and collecting deposits, our research and development work cannot be stopped, and we need to invest another sum of money."

Xia Jingxing responded cheerfully: "Okay, that's no problem. I'll be at Tesla in a while, and we'll have an interview."

"Okay, that's it."

Eberhard smiled and hung up the phone.

When Xia Jingxing was on the phone, Gao Lili and Shen Xinyi who were sitting in the back seat also heard it.

At this time, as soon as Xia Jingxing hung up the phone, Gao Lili couldn't wait to ask: "Is Tesla going to sell the car?"

Xia Jingxing turned his head, looked at her and said, "Yes, why, do you want to buy one?"

"I can't afford it. It must be very expensive. After all, it is purely handmade."

Gao Lili had interviewed Tesla and Eberhard before, and knew some inside information about Tesla.

"Is the battery still on fire? When we went to interview last time, we saw the battery..."

Shen Xinyi realized that what she said seemed to be at the wrong time, so she sneaked a glance at Xia Jingxing, and stopped talking about the rest.

"The probability of fire has been minimized, but as long as it is a machine, there must be a failure rate, which cannot be completely eliminated, and will continue to improve."

Xia Jingxing said with a smile: "The first model, we named it "Founder Series".

Two founders, let's get one! "

"I don't have any money. When Lilith is released, I will buy ten of them and give them to employees as rewards."

Gao Lili is indeed a woman who has lighted up her success skills, and even Xia Jingxing was willing to bow down when she started painting cakes.

"Okay, then I will remember."

While talking, Xia Jingxing also thought of one thing, should Internet celebrities come out to bring goods? Or go a step further and set Lilith's internet celebrity signing reward as Tesla.

Internet celebrities show off from time to time, or make a special video to introduce, and the brand exposure will immediately increase.

The car is also sold, and there are free advertisements, killing two birds with one stone.

It's not enough right now, mainly because Lilith is poor.

After driving the two girls to Silicon Valley, Xia Jingxing asked Zhang Chenguang to stop.

Xia Jingxing asked the two to transfer to Abra's pink beetle, because he wanted to save time and rush to Tesla earlier.

"I don't feel pity at all. If you are like this, no girl will like you."

Gao Lili got out of the car cursing, while Shen Xinyi beside her was snickering, and hurriedly pulled her partner away, not wanting to see her embarrassing again.

Xia Jingxing didn't mind at all, and waved to the two of them.

The flamboyant pink Beetle parked behind the Rolls-Royce poked its head out and waved vigorously at Xia Jingxing.

Because of the angle, the two women were in a straight line with Abra, this guy thought Xia Jingxing was saying goodbye to her, so he pretended to be affectionate.

Seeing the hot eye scene again, Xia Jingxing shrank his neck, and quickly climbed up the car window.

"Go, go, hurry up!"

Xia Jingxing didn't want to stay any longer, so he waved vigorously at Zhang Chenguang.

It took another half an hour, and the car drove outside Tesla's factory building.

After the car was parked, without waiting for Zhang Chenguang to open the door, Xia Jingxing opened the door and walked out, walking quickly towards the factory building.

Compared with before, when I entered the factory, I had an obvious feeling that there were more people.

Eberhard held a folder under his arm and was discussing something with Straubel.

Seeing Xia Jingxing walking, the two stopped their discussion and shook hands with Xia Jingxing one by one.

"Where's the car? Take me to see it."

The boss wanted to see the car, so Eberhard didn't dare to neglect, so he trotted to get the keys.

After Eberhard left, Straubel, who is currently the director of battery technology, talked with Xia Jingxing, and his attitude was very friendly.

Xia Jingxing treated him with kindness, including the "battery arrangement and combination" technology that he was regarded as a legend by his colleagues in the company, and he was promoted and raised in one fell swoop. It all came from the suggestion of the major shareholder and chairman in front of him. .

He didn't know why Xia Jingxing gave up the great credit to himself. The company recognized that this invention saved at least half a year's research and development time.

After much deliberation, he could only explain that Xia Jingxing wanted to cultivate himself and help him improve his prestige in the company.

Besides Eberhard, Straubel also often called Xia Jingxing and sent work emails.

Xia Jingxing knew all about the company's big moves, or what Eberhard hadn't told him.

His career is spread out too much, and sometimes it is inevitable that he cannot control it properly. At this time, he needs a confidant like Straubel to play a role.

Soon, Eberhard got the key again, and took Xia Jingxing to a warehouse near the factory building.

When the warehouse door was opened, Xia Jingxing couldn't take his eyes off seeing the neatly parked eight Roadster sports cars inside.

It is no longer the previous single lifeless black, but four of the cars are red, as bright as fire and full of vitality.

"Go out at full speed and run around the track."

Xia Jingxing's order stunned Eberhard, "Now?"

"Yes, call all the employees to see the heroic appearance of the Roadster on the track. This is inseparable from everyone's dedication, and everyone should be proud of it."

Eberhard instantly understood Xia Jingxing's meaning, which was to cultivate a sense of honor and belonging for employees.

This is a good thing, you have to support it!

So Eberhard ran to the nearby factory to call the employees.

After a while, dozens of employees ran over noisily, and everyone had bright smiles on their faces.

"Guys, the weather is so nice today, let's get our babies out in the sun."

The old employees knew that this was the chairman, and when they heard Xia Jingxing's words, they happily went to Eberhard to get the car keys.

As for the new employees, some of them didn't know who this young Asian man was, so they whispered to the old employees one after another.

After the inquiry, the new employees thoroughly remembered this impressive chairman.

In the eyes of the old employees, Xia Jingxing is a rich man who often pays benefits, is eclectic and unrestrained, and the new employees also feel the same way.

These few prototype cars, CEO Eberhard is usually so precious that he is afraid of bumping into them.

And when the chairman came, he waved his hand and opened it casually, how grand it is!

Not long after, another founder, Tarpenning, arrived from his office in the office building next door.

When he saw that the eight Baby Pimples had driven out of the warehouse and formed a long queue, ready to go somewhere, he was in a hurry and wanted to stop this wasteful and risky behavior on the spot.

Eberhard stepped forward to persuade the partner, and told him that it was Xia Jingxing's intention.

Tarpenning quickly looked at Xia Jingxing, who was nodding and smiling at him, he clicked his mouth a few times, but finally said nothing.

Eight open-top Roadster sports cars lined up in a long line and slowly drove out of the office area where Tesla is located, followed by dozens of cars.

Because the Roadster has only two seats, eight cars can only seat sixteen people.

Tesla currently has more than 80 employees.

The entire Tesla company, except for a few left-behind administrative employees, can be regarded as fully dispatched to witness the heroic appearance of the work in hand on the field.

The convoy of eight red and black convertible sports cars became a beautiful landscape on the road, attracting many passers-by to stop to watch or take pictures.

Xia Jingxing was sitting in the Rolls-Royce, and his eyes were always on the convoy in front of him.

The employees are fairly well-behaved, knowing the value of the car under their buttocks, there is no chaotic racing, and they are very gentle in driving the car.

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