wavenovel Chapter 90 Financing Implementation
Chapter 90 Financing Implementation
Ginkgo Capital's due diligence lasted a week.
The investigation team consisted of three people: a finance person, a legal person, and a technical person. The finance person reviewed the ledgers, the legal person reviewed the contracts, and the technical person reviewed the code. Zuo Cheng had Han Lu accompany him throughout the process, only appearing during the technical interview segment.
On the day of the technical interview, Ginkgo Capital sent a Dr. Zhou, who had worked in the telecommunications industry for ten years. He asked very in-depth questions about the technical architecture of the Sky Dome project. Zuo Cheng answered fluently; after all, he had designed these technologies himself, and no one knew them better than him.
During a break in the interview, Zuo Cheng secretly activated the technology radar while Dr. Zhou went to the restroom.
[Technology Radar activated, consuming 5 points]
Current points: 140
[Scan complete]
[Discovering Learnable Technologies: Optimizing Large-Scale Distributed System Architectures]
[Source: Zhou Bo]
[Copying cost: 10 points]
Zuo Cheng hesitated for a few seconds. Large-scale distributed system architecture optimization—wasn't this exactly what he needed? The resource contention problem in beam management stemmed from the architecture design. 10 points for one architecture optimization capability—worth it.
He confirmed the copy.
[Copy complete, 10 points consumed]
Current points: 130
[New leaflet added: Distributed system architecture optimization]
Zuo Cheng calmly shut down the system panel, secretly pleased. This capability was the key to solving the beam management problem.
"Mr. Zuo, how did your edge scheduling system achieve a latency of 9 milliseconds?" Dr. Zhou asked a crucial question. "From what I understand, the industry average latency is over 30 milliseconds; your performance is more than three times that of your competitors."
"The core technologies are threefold," Zuo Cheng said. "First, adaptive priority scheduling, which dynamically allocates transmission resources based on data type and urgency. Second, predictive resource reservation, which predicts peak traffic based on historical data and reserves bandwidth in advance. Third, a lightweight edge computing framework, which pushes scheduling logic down to the gateway layer, reducing backhaul latency."
Dr. Zhou nodded: "Do these three technologies all have technological barriers? Can competitors replicate them?"
"The first and second technologies require deep algorithmic expertise, which can't be caught up with in just one or two years. The third requires engineering capabilities; we spent six months refining it to achieve its current performance," Zuo Cheng said. "Moreover, these three technologies are constantly iterating. Even if competitors imitate today's version, they won't be able to catch up with our version tomorrow."
Dr. Zhou did not ask any further questions, but made a few notes in his notebook.
After the due diligence was completed, Ginkgo Capital gave positive feedback. General Manager Lin personally called: "Mr. Zuo, we are very satisfied with the due diligence results. We have decided to invest 10 million RMB for a 10% stake. The valuation is 1 billion RMB, consistent with your expectations."
Zuo Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't show it: "Thank you, Mr. Lin. However, I have another idea."
"explain."
"I hope to bring in Blue Bay Communications' industry fund as a co-investor," Zuo Cheng said. "Ginkgo Capital will invest 1 million yuan, and Blue Bay's industry fund will invest 5000 million yuan, totaling 15 million yuan, for a 1.5% stake. Blue Bay's strategic resources are crucial for 402's nationwide expansion. A combination of financial and strategic investment is more valuable than pure financial investment."
Mr. Lin thought for a moment: "Blue Bay Industrial Fund? What resources do they have?"
"Lanwan Communications is one of the top five telecommunications operators in China, with strong channels in the government market," said Zuo Cheng. "The 402 smart city solution needs to be promoted nationwide, and Lanwan's channel network can help us quickly enter local governments. This is something that pure financial investment cannot provide."
"That makes sense," said General Manager Lin. "I'm also relieved that Blue Bay is involved, which shows that Blue Bay has long-term confidence in 402. So let's do it your way: 1 million plus 5000 million, 15 million, 1.5%."
"Thank you, Mr. Lin."
After hanging up the phone, Zuo Cheng couldn't help but clench his fist. 150 million yuan in funding, a valuation of 1 billion yuan, from Ginkgo Capital and Blue Bay Industrial Fund. This was 402's largest funding round since its inception, and a crucial step in its transformation from a startup to an industry player.
He told Han Lu the news, and Han Lu was so excited she almost jumped for joy: "President Zuo! 1.5 million! A valuation of 10 billion! 402 is taking off!"
"Don't get excited," Zuo Cheng said. "Funding is just a means, not an end. With the 1.5 million in hand, we still have a lot to do. Nationwide expansion, team growth, and the delivery of the Sky Dome project—each of these requires significant capital and manpower."
"I know," Han Lu took a deep breath, "but I'm still happy. From dormitory 402 to a valuation of 10 billion, it only took a little over two years. Who would have dared to imagine such speed?"
Zuo Cheng smiled. He didn't dare to think about it either, but the technology tree made everything possible.
On the day the financing agreement was signed, Zuo Cheng stood before the signing table, looking at the figure of 1.5 million on the contract, but he didn't feel much excitement. He knew that this was just another starting point. The 1.5 million in funding gave 402 the fuel to run faster, but running faster doesn't mean running farther.
After the signing ceremony, Zuo Cheng returned to the company and convened a meeting with the core team.
"We've raised 1.5 million, which will be used in three installments after it arrives." Zuo Cheng stood in front of the whiteboard. "The first installment of 50 million will be used for nationwide market expansion, starting with three provinces. The second installment of 5000 million will be used for team expansion, hiring 5000 people. The third installment of 5000 million will be used for technology research and development, focusing on mastering AI algorithms."
"AI?" Chen Hao asked, somewhat surprised. "Shouldn't we be focusing on the Internet of Things and space exploration right now?"
"The Internet of Things (IoT) and the space network are the foundation, we can't abandon them," Zuo Cheng said. "But AI is the future. Ma Hao mentioned before that IoT plus AI is the real direction. Yu Ying's anomaly detection algorithm also proves that AI can significantly improve the intelligence level of IoT systems. We need to plan ahead, we can't wait for our competitors to make the first move."
Ma Hao's eyes lit up. He had been waiting for Zuo Cheng to say those words.
"You're in charge of planning the technical roadmap for AI," Zuo Cheng said, looking at Ma Hao. "Give me a plan within a week."
"Understood!" Ma Hao's voice held an undisguised excitement.
Zuo Cheng looked at the team gathered around the table, each face brimming with enthusiasm. The 1.5 million yuan in funding had been a shot in the arm, giving everyone in 402 a glimpse of a brighter future. Chen Hao was planning a new personnel structure, Zhang Lei was calculating the hardware procurement list, and Liu Wei was already making plans for a new office space.
After the meeting, Zuo Cheng stood alone by the window. Fundraising was complete, a solution to the beamforming problem was in place, and nationwide expansion was about to begin. Everything was moving in a positive direction.
He opened the system panel and glanced at the current status: three branches, three fused leaves, and 130 points. The tech tree was growing, and so was 402. And he would continue to push it all forward.