My Age of Investment

On the second day after Xia Jingxing left, Rich, head of Envision Capital's US VC fund, came to Tesla on behalf of the company and reached a D-round financing framework agreement with Eberhard and Tarpenning.

Subsequently, Tesla once again convened all shareholders, and everyone held an internal meeting together.

"Vision Capital will invest US$50 million in Tesla based on a pre-investment valuation of US$200 million. Do you have any objections to this? If not, we will formally start signing the investment agreement next."

Xia Jingxing sat at the top of the long table. He is the chairman and top decision maker of Tesla, so he will preside over today's important meeting.

After finishing speaking, he glanced at the shareholders sitting in two rows and began to ask everyone for their opinions.

Shareholders have a steelyard in their hearts, and feel that this valuation cannot be regarded as Vision Capital taking advantage of Tesla.

On the contrary, it is true that Tesla is asking for a bargain.

Everyone is very clear that if the financing negotiations are dragged on, Tesla will not be able to afford it, and the management and other shareholders will definitely compromise with Vision Capital.

But Xia Jingxing didn't take advantage of others' danger, and behaved very magnanimously and generously.

In fact, there was not much money to be squeezed out, because Xia Jingxing already held nearly half of the equity, and he would bear half of the loss himself due to the reduced valuation.

Compared with this petty gain, we still have to focus on the overall situation.

Anyway, his goal of holding shares has been achieved, and this is the most important thing.

Then, the shareholders expressed their opinions one by one, all expressing their approval and praising Envision Capital.

Only Antonio's mouth was broken, he said with a smile: "Daren, you have found a good opportunity to buy the bottom!

If you didn't have an agreement with the company first, value equity capital would like to invest a little bit. "

"It's okay! If you have an idea, I can give you half of the investment share."

Xia Jingxing looked at Antonio with a smile, and the little book in his heart had silently recorded his name.

"Really?" Antonio said happily.

"I'm not joking with you. Anyway, I haven't signed the contract yet. It's too late."

Xia Jingxing didn't know if Antonio was testing himself, he acted very freely and didn't care about Tesla's equity.

Antonio watched Xia Jingxing for a long time, but he didn't see anything, which made him feel a little regretful.

After leaving the cafe that day, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong.

Xia Jingxing personally and his investment fund invested in Tesla for three consecutive rounds. He fell in love with this company when Tesla was still a small workshop, how could he give up lightly.

However, he was also a little uncertain whether Xia Jingxing was playing hard to get, or if he was really bound by the agreement.

If he couldn't figure it out, he simply didn't want to think about it, just buy the bottom, and the valuation of 200 million US dollars is not considered a cheap sale of shares.

If the valuation is reduced to US$150 million or US$100 million, he will follow whatever he says.

After thinking it through in his mind, Antonio waved his hand, "Forget it, let's talk about it later!"

Xia Jingxing had basically confirmed that Antonio was trying to test him, and secretly thought that it was very dangerous. It seemed that his acting skills still needed to be sharpened, and he was almost seen as tricky.

These investors are all good people. This time he missed it. If he wants to buy the bottom like this in the future, the chances will not be many.

With no objections from shareholders, Tesla’s Series D financing agreement was formally signed.

After the financing is completed, Xia Jingxing's personal shareholding will be diluted to 21.34%;

Lichun Fund 10.16%;

Rainwater Fund 2.54%;

Equinox Fund 25.33%;

The three VC funds of Vision Capital hold a total of 38.03% of the shares, becoming Tesla's largest shareholder in name.

However, the three VC funds were all provided by Xia Jingxing alone, and they did not raise funds from outside. In fact, they were still left handed.

If the various shareholding platforms are combined, he controls a total of 59.37% of Tesla’s shares, occupying a controlling position in the company for the first time.

…………

…………

After signing the D round financing agreement,

Tesla disclosed it to the outside world immediately, dispelling the rumors that it was about to go bankrupt.

But people's new doubts come again. This broken car company can't even make brakes well. Can it make mass-produced cars? Can it be delivered normally? Invest blindly.

After seeing that the investor was Envision Capital, the media and many spectators understood that it was deeply locked in.

All of a sudden, jokes such as "Dairon was wrong" and "Dairon made money with luck, but lost it with strength" spread like wildfire in Silicon Valley.

Everyone was ready to watch Xia Jingxing's joke, to see how much he would fall.

There are also media and good people teasing: "The return rate of this fund of Vision Capital may be ugly. Darren saved Tesla, but failed to save Vision Capital, or brought the two companies into the pit together.

Once the trust of LPs is lost, it will become extremely difficult to raise funds in the future, and if the venture capital fund cannot raise funds, it will become a tiger without minions. "

Tesla has gone from a small workshop to today step by step, and the outside world has never stopped questioning this Silicon Valley car manufacturer.

Only last year when I successfully built a prototype car and challenged Ferrari and Porsche, I was praised for my courage, which also gave some people a new understanding of electric vehicles.

But now the bad news is one after another. Even if Tesla completes the D round of financing, in the eyes of many people, it is a waste of money.

Electric cars are a fake business model, and electric cars are just toy cars, and such remarks have once again begun to spread.

Tesla ignored these remarks from the outside world and devoted all its thoughts to the design of the single-speed gearbox, because practical actions are the most powerful weapon to defeat rumors.

However, worried about the unstable people inside the company, after discussing with Eberhard and Tarpenning, Xia Jingxing announced that the company would have a collective holiday for one day, and then organized all the staff to rent a yacht to go out to sea for team building.

It is not only to celebrate the company's successful completion of the D round of financing, but also to boost morale. It means to show the company's strength to employees.

Fisherman's Wharf.

The employees cheered and got on the yachts one by one, and went to the department as a unit.

Xia Jingxing boarded the same yacht with Eberhard, Tarpenning, Straubel, Bodichevsky, Lyons and other seven or eight senior executives of the company.

On the deck, Eberhard was wearing a straw hat, sunglasses, colorful shirts, and shorts. He was very trendy.

He leaned on the sofa, held the wine glass, looked at the endless coastline in the distance, took a sip, and looked fascinated.

"Salty, it smells like the sea! I haven't smelled it for a long time!"

People on the deck, including Xia Jingxing, couldn't help laughing when they heard this.

The blue sky and white clouds, the clear sky, rafting on the sea, blowing the sea breeze, drinking whiskey with ice cubes, has to be said to be a kind of enjoyment.

In this environment, everyone naturally forgets the pressure of work and enjoys the moment to the fullest.

When the yacht drifted at sea for several hours, it was time to return.

Xia Jingxing broke through, "I shouldn't be talking about work today, but now that the party is coming to an end, I have something to say to everyone."

Hearing this, everyone who was already slightly drunk suddenly regained their spirits.

Straubel even sat up straight, staring at Xia Jingxing intently.

Brother *** claims to be Xia Jingxing's confidant, so his attitude is particularly correct.

The others behaved much worse, sitting crookedly on the sofa.

Eastern and Western cultures are different, and Xia Jingxing is not in the company, so he doesn't bother to correct these minor details.

"Wait Ro

Xia Jingxing glanced at the crowd, "An An Xin is to be a niche and compelling supercar company? Sell more electric supercars?"

Eberhard said with a smile: "Daren, we are now connected to the first Ro

"It's not early!"

Xia Jingxing knew what Eberhard meant, and the latter was still worrying about the single-speed gearbox.

After thinking about it, he looked at Eberhard and said, "I believe you will be able to find a perfect solution to the gearbox problem.

After overcoming this difficulty, it is time for Tesla to strive for a higher goal. "

Eberhard felt that Xia Jingxing was too optimistic, but who made him the major shareholder, so he nodded in agreement and said with a smile, "Yes, after completing this goal, Tesla will have no plans for the future."

"I told you and Tarpenning before that just building an electric supercar is not enough to become a full-fledged car company, let alone disrupt the existing car industry.

From the perspective of long-term development, we must keep down the manufacturing cost of electric vehicles, so that electric vehicles will truly become the trend of the future. "

Tarpenning remembered that Darren had told them about this, but the prototype car hadn't even been built at that time, so he didn't dare to expect such a long-term vision.

Now that mass production and delivery are imminent, it will be a new world to pass the last hurdle.

Then what do you do?

To be honest, he was a little confused.

Xia Jingxing looked at the middle and senior management of Straubel and other companies, and continued: "If Tesla wants to become a truly great company, its current achievements are far from enough.

Even if thousands of supercars are sold a year, so what? How many supercars do you think are profitable? "

Everyone began to ponder. They joined Tesla for different reasons, but basically they all had one thing in common. They loved the cause, thought it was cool, and wanted to change the world.

They feel that the boss is right. If only a few thousand supercars are sold a year, whether the company can maintain its long-term operation is a problem, and it will not be able to have a huge influence in the technology industry.

Is this what they desire and pursue? The pattern is too small and not cool enough.

"To truly subvert the auto industry, we must establish a long-term strategic goal and strive for it!"

Xia Jingxing stood up, "The supercar is only our first model, and then we have to start developing the second model, which is also the first model designed and developed by us independently in a true sense."