Chapter 268 Alibaba raises funds again

This time Alibaba’s financing is considered their D round of financing.

The first round of financing was led by Goldman Sachs Group and only received US$5 million in financing.

In the second time, which was the most famous time, Sun Zhengyi invested US$20 million in Boss Ma and obtained 30% of the shares of Alibaba Company.

Based on this calculation, Alibaba’s post-investment valuation at that time was approximately US$66.66 million.

In the C round of financing, after Barron met Boss Ma, he obtained 20% of Alibaba's shares for US$20 million. With this financing, Alibaba's valuation has reached US$100 million.

The reason why Alibaba’s valuation has not increased much compared with Series B financing this time is mainly because after the Internet bubble crisis, the financing situation of the entire Internet industry was not optimistic—at the beginning, Ma The boss hoped that Son Zhengyi’s SoftBank Group could invest in Alibaba again. It was also because he could not see the prospects of Alibaba at the time, so Sun Zhengyi rejected him, and DS Capital finally invested.

But this time Alibaba's D round of financing has come as the global Internet industry begins to recover from the previous crisis and high-value financing continues to appear.

And Alibaba launched the C2C business Taobao in May last year, and it seems to be developing well so far.

The market value of its target American company Amazon has more than doubled last year, and its current market value exceeds US$15 billion.

Therefore, Alibaba's market value will also increase, and this financing will be China's largest financing so far.

"After launching Taobao, we will need to compete with C2C websites including eBay and Joyo. In addition to these, I am also planning to develop our own payment system this year to help users shop with more confidence. Encountered fraud.”

After meeting Barron, Boss Ma was still chatting and laughing, thinking about the development of Alibaba Company to him.

"I have to say that Taobao's competitors are very strong. eBay has become an e-commerce giant overseas. However, I am still optimistic about Alibaba and will continue to support you."

Many times, a good relationship between investors and company founders is still very important. Therefore, Barron has always had a very friendly attitude towards these Chinese Internet companies and future giants. This is also why Barron, including Ma This is where Internet entrepreneurs, including Boss and Pony Boss, feel satisfied.

But looking at the young British Duke in front of me, I couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

As one of the most important investors in Alibaba, not only Boss Ma, but also many Chinese entrepreneurs who have received investment from DS Capital will pay attention to some things about Barron Cavendish.

Including his massive acquisitions in England last year, including TV stations, telecommunications companies, retail companies and football clubs...

According to statistics from last year's British Rich List, Barron, who ranks 35th on the British Rich List, has a net worth of 1 billion pounds.

Obviously, the other party's wealth at this time is far more than this, and may even be ten times or more than this number.

After all, it is said that O2 Telecom alone is currently valued at more than 11 billion pounds. Excluding the more than 5 billion pounds of liabilities, this company alone can contribute nearly 6 billion to the young Duke. Net worth in pounds sterling.

You know, when he originally acquired this company, Barron only spent 500 million pounds of his own money, and the rest of the funds came from financing.

This kind of wealth growth rate is simply appalling.

After the discussion between Barron and Ma, they decided to invest US$100 million in Alibaba this time and obtain 20% of its shares. In this case, plus the 20% of Alibaba shares previously held (after the D round of financing) diluted to 16%), and his holdings of Alibaba shares accounted for 36%.

The 30% stake previously held by SoftBank Group will be diluted to 24% this time, which is already lower than the proportion of Alibaba shares held by Barron.

However, this time, the investment will not be made in the name of DS Capital, but the offshore company Rich23 Capital will participate in Alibaba’s Series D financing.

It's already February, and in March or April, the rich lists for 2003 will be released one after another. By then, Barron's terrifying wealth growth last year will definitely attract the attention of many people.

This is what he avoids. In the future, he is more suitable to hide behind the scenes, rather than becoming a "wealth idol" like current Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and future Zuckerberg and Musk.

Therefore, since before, he has gradually used various offshore companies and layers of nesting between holding companies to hide the shares and wealth he directly holds in the fog.

"One more thing, Mr. Cavendish, someone wants to meet you..."

When saying this, Boss Ma pointed upward.

Seeing this, Barron asked:

"Oh? Can you tell me more specifically?"

"He's from the province..."

In fact, with the expansion of Barron's investment in China and his status as the Duke of England, he has gradually attracted the attention of higher-ups.

However, real contact must be passed on level by level, so this time, because his investment scale in Zhejiang Province is particularly large, he will also be received by the province.

In addition to Alibaba's investment in Hangzhou, the larger investment from Barron's is from Argos Retail Group.

When it bought No. 2 on the Bund last year and prepared to build the Devonshire Bund Hotel there, Argos, the predecessor of Argos Retail Group, had signed an investment agreement with a total value of 100 million pounds with Zhejiang Province. Establish a partner program to cooperate with manufacturers that meet its quality system, customize products, and invest in some of these companies.

Later, the scale of this investment gradually expanded, not only Argos, but also Primark clothing chain joined in.

At this time, there are more than 100 OEM factories cooperating with Argos Retail Group, and the entire Argos Retail Group's investment in Zhejiang Province has exceeded 350 million pounds.

Such cooperation is also of extremely positive significance to Zhejiang Province's investment promotion work, and can also expand its exports.

At least half of these OEM factories have entered the Argos Retail Group's "Priority Cooperation Directory". These factories have received investment from the Argos Retail Group to help them improve production quality and output. The Group Holding 10%-30% of the shares of these foundry factories allows for closer cooperation with each other.

For some reasons, Barron naturally would not refuse this meeting. After all, the foundation for the future has been laid in advance.

And he himself is very satisfied with the production capacity of Zhejiang Province at this time. After that, Argos Retail Group will continue to expand its investment in Zhejiang Province and increase investment in areas with excellent production capacity such as Guangdong Province, so that Argos The cost-effectiveness of Primark's products has become their ever-expanding advantage.

For this reason, Barron, who originally planned to stay in Hangzhou for a day or two before heading to the Magic City, waited here for another two days and met with the labor-saving bosses before leaving here.