Reinventing the Millennium

In mid-August, Wei Zhe silently prepared for the upcoming entry. He is full of confidence in starting this business. In addition to the joint support of the two largest investors in China, "Left Bear and Right Dog", Mi Tuan's world-leading local promotion team also Effective people will be allocated.

Moreover, compared to funds, the most exciting thing about Yike is the injection of resources. The national-level communication app Yixin will bring the power to sweep the market. This is also a big confidence for everyone to have the patience to sit back and watch BAT compete first.

And just as the outline of "Dada" is gradually becoming clearer, the competition among Didi, Kuaidi, and Bumblebee has unsurprisingly intensified rapidly.

Before August, Didi relied on its money and wanted to establish its leading position in the Shencheng market. It not only advertised overwhelmingly in subways, airports, bus stations and other places, but also increased the subsidy price for drivers to 50-100. Yuan, which leads to the first thing many taxi drivers do when they get in the car is to recommend passengers to download the software.

After August, Bumblebee and Kuaidi, which have already received financing, have matched their subsidized prices.

In particular, Kuaidi has been optimized using Alipay.

For example, Bumblebee's subsidies to drivers are sometimes in the form of phone bills, and Didi's confirmation time is sometimes not timely enough. Kuaidi, which can be directly installed in Alipay, effectively solves this problem.

Not only that, Kuaidi was directly supported by Alipay and almost reversed its disadvantage in the market within a few days.

Let’s not mention Duji Wallet. Even the “QQ Wallet” now supported by QQ, how can it be compared with the well-known Alipay?

The three brands rely solely on promotion and maintenance in airports, high-speed rail and other places. The number of drivers in a day naturally increases by 1,500-2,000. They are not short of money and have built-in "fast" in Alipay. According to rough statistics from off-site observations, the number of drivers in a day naturally increases. The growth volume may be 3500-4500.

In just one week, ‘Kuaidi’ has developed like a wild horse in the Shanghai area.

Some investors noticed this situation and couldn't help but sigh, "If Yi can't pay, who can compete?"

Alipay’s support for Kuaidi is too strong. The most important thing is that the three-party competition is not limited to Shanghai, but has spread across the country.

However, the question of who will compete with him soon got the answer. It can only be money and competition.

Both Hornet and Didi, whose brands are weak, have strengthened their subsidies, and the proportions of driver and passenger services have been increased by almost 50%, which has had an immediate effect.

Immediately, Kuaidi spent a week verifying and found that...money seems to be more real than brand power. At the very least, the two companies have maintained their share.

From mid-July to mid-August, in one month, the pattern of Shanghai's taxi-hailing software market was basically determined. Kuaidi, headquartered in Lin'an, used Alipay to secure its own back garden, occupying 45% of the market, while Didi's After the initial fierce attack, it turned into a disadvantage and occupied 30% of the market.

As for Bumblebee, it has received investment from Duji and has been revived. It still has 20% of the market.

Shanghai is a place where three mainstream taxi-hailing brands are fighting. With BAT as the main capital, the presence of other small and medium-sized brands has quickly disappeared.

On the evening of August 21, Duji’s boss Ma Dongmin received a call from Bumblebee CEO Li Yongjin.

"Mr. Ma, there are less than 200 million left in the account. According to the current rate of burning money, we can only support it for less than three months at most. Can Du Ji find a way to exert influence and help us get investment?" Li Yongjin got straight to the point.

Ma Dongmin was surprised. She knew that the competition between the three brands in Shanghai was fierce, but she did not expect it to be so intense.

Duji's investment in Bumblebee was made on the 21st of last month. It took a full month, and the 85 million U.S. dollars was converted into 526 million Huaxia coins. Is this more than half spent?

She didn't speak immediately, but asked with a thought: "How much did the Hornet subsidize Shencheng in the past month?"

"We have subsidized 264 million yuan." Li Yongjin gave an accurate figure and complained, "Mr. Ma, it's not that we want to subsidize it like this, but there is no other way. Didi's subsidy must be about 350 million yuan. The fastest one has to have at least 400 million, and they subsidize more than us. Now it’s not easy for the Hornets to have a 20% share in Shanghai.”

Ma Dongmin calculated the numbers silently. He found that the Hornet burned 42 million US dollars in one month, mainly on the driver side. According to this plan, Li Yongjin's 85 million in three months was too much.

However, Didi earns US$56 million a month and Kuaidi earns US$64 million a month...

Ma Dongmin couldn't help but frown: "Shencheng's one-month subsidy is too crazy. Does the Hornet have any expectations for the subsidy time? What's the next step?"

"Shencheng cannot be thrown away! The subsidies will not be burned endlessly!" Li Yongjin first made a reassuring premise, and then said, "No matter what, we must hold on to this round until this wave of money burning passes. , Bumblebee already has a competitive strategy."

Ma Dongmin listened quietly.

"After Shencheng's money burning stops, Hornet will quickly expand to other provincial capitals and first-tier cities to engage in misaligned competition. In so many cities across the country, Didi and Kuaidi are selective in what they do. They have focus. We also have key points, and they are blooming everywhere and developing separately, and then there will be a wave of fierce competition." Li Yongjin analyzed the situation.

Didi started burning money, but neither Bumblebee nor Kuaidi were afraid and responded proactively. Why don't other brands do the same?

Because, it’s really burning and dying.

Didi cannot scare Bumblebee and Kuaidi, and subsequent strategies must be adjusted. Shanghai will enter a relative relaxation period. After all, in the current stage of incremental growth, Shanghai is important, and there are still many cities across the country. Need to conquer.

Ma Dongmin took a breath and basically agreed with Li Yongjin's analysis, that is... Shencheng's money burning this month is really crazy.

But, having said that, this also proves that the new field of taxi-hailing software has more potential than imagined.

The money burned by Bumblebee did indeed drive the growth of the ‘Duji Wallet’ data in the Shanghai area. The funds just returned to Duji in another way.

"We are very confident in the Hornets and don't have to worry about funds." Ma Dongmin promised, "When Shanghai City is stable, Duji Wallet will follow the Hornets in the domestic market."

Li Yongjin was half relieved, but still suggested: "Mr. Ma, you may need to contact investment institutions in advance for subsequent funds. I heard that Penguin's executives chartered flights to the capital in the past two days."

Ma Dongmin really didn't know about this. She paid great attention to the feedback from the front line and asked: "Is Didi also short of money? Did Penguin invest money in the past?"

"Didi is definitely short of money. It received the money in April, and I don't know if Penguin made up for it. I suspect it has already been allocated. We took financing, and Kuaidu also took US$100 million from Alibaba. Penguin will definitely give the C round, but I don’t know if it will join forces with other investment institutions." Li Yongjin replied.

Ma Dongmin said "hmm" and figured out how to find other institutions for the next round. After pondering for a moment, he suddenly asked: "Is there any news in Yike recently?"

Li Yongjin hesitated and said: "It doesn't seem like it. It's very quiet. I haven't heard anything about it in the market."

Since the last time I heard that Yike Qihe was angrily complaining about taxi-hailing apps in WeChat Moments, after Didi and Kuaidi changed their settings, they seemed to have disappeared with satisfaction.

Ma Dongmin was silent for a while and said: "Perhaps all the energy is focused on its new mobile phone. Yike's new phone launch conference is scheduled for October, which is not very far away."

This year's launch of Yike is one month later than last year. The time was announced on October 26. However, Apple and Samsung made different choices from last year and did not stagger the launch. They also placed it in October.

This year is said to be a year of great performance improvement. The Galaxy 2 tablet launched by Yike in the first half of the year has received good reviews. The 28nm chip it is equipped with has also been tested and its performance is excellent. In addition, this is Yusanjia’s first 4G mobile phone. There are also conceptual differences.

Ma Dongmin doesn't pay much attention to Yike, but news about it always reaches his ears from different angles.

Based on this situation, it might be understandable if Yike really doesn’t plan to enter the taxi-hailing software.

"No, Mr. Ma!" Li Yongjin immediately broke the illusion and said solemnly, "Mr. Ma, I'm afraid Yike is sharpening his sword by being so quiet! I never believe that Yike will let go of such an excellent taxi-hailing app. Mobile payment scenario!”

"Besides, this is the money-burning subsidy that happened at the feet of Yike!"

When Li Yongjin said this, he suddenly remembered what he said when he went to the capital to persuade Du Ji, and continued naturally: "What's more, Yike has already had contact with us before. If there is no news about new investment contacts, it is very likely that It does the project incubation on its own!”

Ma Dongmin's short-lived fantasy was stopped by reality.

She agreed: "Indeed, Alipay also attaches great importance to it, and Yipay will not miss it. In this case, Yike is probably trying to compete with the snipe and the clam, and the fisherman will benefit. Do you think that after Shanghai City is stabilized, the three major brands will With the development of the whole country, how long will it take to build a moat against Yike?"

Li Yongjin wanted to say "Where is the moat?" but felt that it was not very good. After thinking for a while, he replied: "In three months, we will have an initial lead. As long as our data improves, investment institutions will also be willing to Come in."

Burn money first, burn out data and urban business, and then make investment institutions willing to invest money. As long as they can continue to invest money and continue to match competitive subsidies, this can be regarded as a certain moat.

The market is so big that not only one company can survive.

Li Yongjin’s idea is that no matter who is in front of us, we Bumblebee will just try to survive.

"Okay, Mr. Li, when there is good news about Bumblebee, Du Ji will help negotiate investment." Ma Dongmin promised again.

Li Yongjin ended the call.

Ma Dongmin immediately convened a meeting of the war investment department to discuss the relevant situation, and asked someone to call Bumblebee again, requesting more detailed information for reference. This time it was related to Duji’s mobile payment. Since it had already been invested, it must be followed in the end.

However, in order to leverage money, more venture capital must be brought in to work together.

All things were arranged, and sure enough, just three days later, Didi announced that it had received US$100 million in financing from several companies including Penguin, CPE, Huaxing, etc.

Ma Dongmin noticed that everyone had similar ideas, and they all wanted to use other companies’ money to maintain this round of competition for mobile payments. In this way, everyone gets what they need.

It's just that... the situation is a little different from what I imagined.

The Shencheng market is still burning money, but Du Ji has contacted some well-known investment institutions in China, but has not received very enthusiastic feedback. After checking the relevant information, he has not seen any response to the same warm-up contacts from Alibaba and Penguin.

The three major brands spent a total of 1 billion yuan in Shanghai alone in one month. This crazy situation made BAT realize that there was a problem with the previous evaluation, and they are helping to negotiate the next step of financing.

However, a group of investment institutions remained inert and ignored the popularity of the new track.

Time has entered September, and Didi, Kuaidi, and Bumblebee seemed to have a tacit understanding to reduce the intensity of Shencheng's money burning, and instead pounced on provincial capitals and first-tier cities, maintaining the rare January-to-January consistency in new tracks. develop.

However, those inert institutions still did not respond to BAT’s contact.

The situation is clear.

A certain giant is already gathering strength!

BAT is aware of this situation and is increasingly urging the three major brands to compete domestically, shifting from fierce competition concentrated in one city, Shanghai, to fierce competition in various places.

With a large scope and many cities, which ones should be attacked, which ones should be defended, and which ones must be defended, data and analysis are rapidly increasing. For a time, small brands have declared their death one after another, while Didi, Kuaidi and Bumblebee cannot defeat anyone. status.

On September 20, the news about Yike's fate finally appeared with a more obvious evidence.

A venture capital investor revealed that former Alibaba CEO Wei Zhe has formed a team and won the support of Yike. He will soon compete in the new taxi-hailing software track. In addition, IDG and Shenxin Technology have confirmed investment.

Wei Zhe?

As soon as the news about having a nose and eyes came out, Ali behind Kuai De had the most complicated emotions.

Wei Zhe, you, your "brother" really went to do "that"...

What’s so good about Yike? It's not enough for you to help with the rice balls, why should you continue to fight for mobile payment?

For Alibaba, the only real competitor to Alipay is Yipay, and Duji Wallet is nowhere to be found. Although QQ Wallet has the support of user numbers, it does not have a solid e-commerce payment foundation and experience like Yipay.

What makes Ali even more irritated is that when Wei Zhe comes out, there will inevitably be people from the former "Chinese Railway Supply Army". They have made rice balls to suppress Ali's word-of-mouth network, and they will continue to compete for new business.

However, nothing can be done.

In late September, when the subsidy competition was once again intensifying with the news about Yike, a new situation caught the attention of many people. Fang Zhuo, who had no news recently, let everyone know what he was busy with.

On September 23, Sony announced that the resignation of external director Fang Zhuo had been approved by the board of directors.

On the afternoon of this day, Sony head Yoshihisa Ishida accepted an interview with the media, accusing the head of Yike of seeking control of Sony Sensor Company and intending to poach the company's technical team.

A "model of technical cooperation" once praised by many media has fallen into a relationship crisis.