313: Douyin once again tops the charts for Series D funding!

For these executives, stock trading was already a commonplace occurrence.

Especially today, when Flush continued to rise by another 5 points while they were chatting, it became quite the talking point.

Back to the main topic, the insane growth of TikTok's data recently made many Institutions acknowledge short videos even more.

To be precise, they acknowledged TikTok more.

As for other short video platforms entering the market, the Institutions weren't actually very interested.

Firstly, those short video platforms that were doing well actually had complex backgrounds.

And those that were doing garbage, they didn't think much of them.

Secondly, because there was TikTok, a ready-made platform already approved by Brother Lin, that they could invest in, why would they go looking for others?

This also led to the valuation of ByteDance Company beginning to climb steadily in the venture capital market.

Many people started constantly consulting Zhang Yiming, asking him how to proceed with subsequent financing and if he had any ideas.

ByteDance Company Headquarters.

Zhang Yiming was recently in the midst of "happy troubles."

Too many people were looking for him for financing, although TikTok indeed required astronomical amounts of financing subsequently.

After all, for a short video platform like TikTok, the financing required to become big was absolutely massive. To truly go public, it needed A, B, C, and D rounds of financing, and if operated properly, E, F, and G rounds were even possible.

Only, by the time it truly reached that point of financing, TikTok would definitely be a behemoth-level product.

And what was just right now was that TikTok was really about to reach the time for financing.

Although they still had the money given by Brother Lin in their account.

But because the platform was in a period of rapid development, in order to stimulate the passion of creators and increase server purchases, spending money was like flowing water.

Money, sometimes, really didn't last.

But money, sometimes, also came very quickly.

Looking at the dozen or so calls on his phone in one day, Zhang Yiming was truly trapped in happy troubles.

Which Institutions should he choose? Which Institutions' channels and resources could be more conducive to promoting their company's products?

These were all questions Zhang Yiming needed to consider.

Of course, before that, he still needed to talk to Wang Lin.

After getting through to Wang Lin's phone, Zhang Yiming explained his purpose.

Wang Lin, who had been sprawled on the sofa doing nothing, instantly perked up upon learning that Zhang Yiming was preparing to start financing again.

"Which Institutions to choose? That naturally is for me to guarantee for you. This time I will value you at over 10 billion USD. Just go for it boldly!"

Wang Lin's words left Zhang Yiming dumbfounded.

Although he knew his company's current market valuation was indeed impressive.

But Wang Lin's opening bid of a 10 billion USD valuation truly shocked Zhang Yiming.

You have to know that a year ago, his company's valuation was barely around 500 million USD.

In less than a year, it had directly increased 20-fold?

The most critical thing was that the institution that invested last time was Brother Lin, and the institution raising the price this time was also Brother Lin.

Hearing this, Zhang Yiming was speechless for a long time.

Such a big picture!

Brother Lin's vision was just too grand!

He had originally thought Brother Lin would use his status as a previous investor, plus the convenience provided to the company's development, to suppress the valuation.

But he didn't.

Instead, he directly maxed out the valuation.

This level of big shot, this kind of generosity, instantly made Zhang Yiming want to worship him!

Look, this is a true big shot!

Zhang Yiming was silent for a long time, his voice a bit excited and hoarse as he said: "Thank you for your appreciation, Brother Lin. I will fly to Zheng County to find you now. Shall we talk in detail?"

Wang Lin smiled and nodded: "No problem. Call me when you arrive. I'll be waiting for you!"

One sentence, and Zhang Yiming was even more energized.

He immediately asked his secretary to book the earliest flight, aiming straight for Zheng County.

Zheng County, Junlin Group.

If you only looked at this building, it was definitely the modern style of the Magic City.

But if you looked at the surroundings, you would feel a strong sense of dissonance.

This was how Zhang Yiming felt when he arrived here.

Because underneath this highly modern building, there were actually stalls selling various snacks.

He thought about it, and recalled Brother Lin's various life stories in his mind.

He seemed to be a person who didn't care about trifles, and he heard that his life before college was very frugal.

He should like eating these kinds of small stalls.

Zhang Yiming casually bought two downstairs.

He ate one himself, and let his secretary hold the other, but didn't take it out.

By the time he walked halfway, he had already finished the Jianbing Guozi.

This was also a little scheme of Zhang Yiming's.

If Brother Lin really minded this, he would definitely leave a bad impression.

But if he mentioned the things downstairs, and Brother Lin was interested, he could then smoothly have his secretary take out the item.

Perfect.

On the floor of Junlin Finance.

After seeing Wang Lin, Zhang Yiming hurriedly walked a few steps: "Hello, Brother Lin."

He quickly stepped forward to shake Wang Lin's hands.

Wang Lin smiled and said: "You're here? Have you eaten?"

Hearing this, Zhang Yiming smiled embarrassedly: "I saw there were quite a few snack stalls downstairs, so I bought a Jianbing Guozi."

Wang Lin's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said: "The taste is not bad, right? I'll have someone go buy one in a while."

Zhang Yiming smiled and said: "Um, Brother Lin, I bought an extra set of Jianbing Guozi. If you don't mind..."

Wang Lin interrupted him directly at this moment, saying: "Hurry up and bring it here. I can already smell the fragrance of the Jianbing Guozi. It won't be crispy if it stays wrapped up longer."

Zhang Yiming saw him walk straight to his secretary and snatch the bag containing the Jianbing Guozi.

This situation left him speechless.

Brother!

You are the richest man in the world, a big shot with a net worth of trillions. Can you have some class?!

A Jianbing Guozi makes you like this?

Getting the Jianbing Guozi, Wang Lin quickly opened the bag.

But having walked this whole way, the heat inside had already made the outer skin soft.

Wang Lin sighed and asked: "Did you buy it from Sister Sun downstairs?"

Zhang Yiming recalled, and it seemed the stall's name was indeed Sister Sun's Jianbing Guozi.

He nodded.

Wang Lin nodded with satisfaction: "That's fine. Her taste is authentic. Even if it's soft, it's still edible. At the very least, it's still hot right now."

Saying this, the two walked one after another into the conference room.

Zhang Yiming watched Wang Lin finish the Jianbing Guozi.

Only then did they start to enter today's main topic.

Wang Lin looked at Zhang Yiming: "How have you considered it? Regarding the subsequent development of TikTok, what is your plan?"

Zhang Yiming immediately sat upright and said: "The valuation given by Brother Lin is very sincere. To be honest, no one else could give such sincerity, plus your influence, actually, we are climbing high to reach you."

Wang Lin waved his hand: "I just think highly of you. Making the software well is the greatest return for me."

"Tell me about your plan!"

Seeing that Wang Lin didn't want to exchange pleasantries, Zhang Yiming went straight to the point: "Besides you, we also want to introduce an investor with state-owned assets background and overseas background, to provide an endorsement for our company's subsequent compliant development, as well as to provide convenience for overseas expansion!"

This plan was reasonable.

Wang Lin highly approved: "This is not bad."

Zhang Yiming gained Wang Lin's approval, his face filled with even more joy: "The funds obtained from this financing will be used for three specific purposes: continuing to deepen user growth, content is king; second is ecosystem construction, increasing the multi-faceted aspects that users like; third is the launch of the overseas version!"

These three points, wanting to launch them, indeed required consuming quite a lot of funds.

And this was also a path that a national software must take.

Both sides reached a consensus on this big agreement.

Then came the matter of Zhang Yiming choosing international investors.

Because this was the second time Wang Lin and Zhang Yiming were cooperating, the subsequent procedures were very easy to go through.

This matter was not something they needed to worry about.

Wang Lin wanted to keep Zhang Yiming to hang out.

But Zhang Yiming declined him: "Brother Lin, I am now full of drive. I want even more than you for TikTok to stand at the pinnacle of the world!"

Looking at Zhang Yiming's drive, Wang Lin laughed out loud: "Okay, then I won't keep you. The first batch of funds will arrive in your account in a while!"

As fast as ever.

This was also a point Zhang Yiming liked about Wang Lin: very wealthy, and funds arrive at lightning speed.

For this Series D valuation of 10 billion USD, Wang Lin took down 1 billion USD in shares. His status as a major shareholder was further consolidated.

After Zhang Yiming left Junlin Group, he looked back at this behemoth.

He felt emotional: "A figure like Brother Lin is truly a heaven-sent genius. Even though he was born in this Yu Province where education is most difficult, he was still able to carve out a world for himself. Too amazing!"

"1 billion USD in funds, Brother Lin is still as generous as always!"

"Then I cannot give up. I must find a suitable institution as soon as possible to open up overseas channels."

To tell the truth, there were only a few Institutions with state-owned assets background that could protect TikTok domestically while also having overseas distribution backgrounds.

If it were the original ByteDance Company, it naturally wouldn't have the confidence to seek out these companies.

But now he had already obtained 1 billion USD in Series D funds from Junlin Group, which could be said to have a fully maxed-out background.

Seeking them out at this time was truly easy.

And the facts were just as he thought.

In less than a week, Zhang Yiming had negotiated the international background for this round of financing, which was CCB International!

When hearing this news, Wang Lin didn't have any thoughts.

Regardless of which institution it was, it didn't have much to do with him.

Anyway, he had already done what he needed to do.

Inside ByteDance Company.

When the final signature was written, it also signaled that the new round of market movement for ByteDance Company was about to start.

Junlin Finance on the left hand, CCB International on the right hand.

ByteDance Company now had funds if they needed funds, and background if they needed background.

And what they had to do was to convert these funds and background into algorithmic optimization for TikTok and user growth.

Plus the expansion of overseas business.

This was the work he thought of next.

But he didn't expect that at the first step of obtaining funds, there was actually a slight disagreement within the company due to the allocation of funds.

This was also something Zhang Yiming didn't expect.

He watched his two capable subordinates arguing because of this problem.

"President Zhang, our ByteDance Company has obtained such a large sum of funds, we cannot just favor TikTok. Todays Headlines also needs funds to develop!"

"Headlines development? Then you go find the funds yourself? This fund was obtained by President Zhang and Brother Lin, it is special funds for short videos! No one can touch it!"

"I know it is special funds for short videos, but this fund can also be diverted to give some to Todays Headlines. The information flow business here is also very tight. We will return it to you when we have money!"

"You still know it is special funds for short videos? This money is useful, it is all to be spent on the cutting edge. You go think of a way for your Headlines information flow. And return it when you have money? I'm afraid we won't be able to wait!"

The supervisors of the two departments argued very fiercely.

Zhang Yiming also had a headache.

But he finally thought about it and made the decision for short videos.

According to his words: "Short video is a project strongly backed by Brother Lin, it is the vent of the future era. I know the task on the Headlines side is difficult, but you all also need to overcome it. This money needs to be used for its specific purpose!"

"Next year, I plan to plot a Spring Festival red envelope war, and some variety show title sponsorships, all to promote our software on a larger scale. These all require money!"

Zhang Yiming's words set the tone, snuffing out this dispute.

The proud TikTok department supervisor was very happy, and he immediately said: "President Zhang, don't worry. I will definitely make this fund exert 150% of its effect!"

"TikTok will definitely become the first tier of domestic short videos, kill Kuaishou!"

Zhang Yiming nodded with satisfaction.

ByteDance Company's Series D financing news, one month after it ended, Zhang Yiming finally released the wind.

Of course, in fact, the industry had long known about this rumor.

But Zhang Yiming just kept delaying the official announcement.

It was only on this day that he spoke about this matter.

[Shock! Junlin Finance adds to short video again, leads Series D investment in ByteDance Company!]

[Spending 1 billion USD, why does Junlin Finance favor TikTok?!]

[Valuation of 10 billion USD, what magical power does ByteDance Company actually have!!]

[Short video platform stirs up the situation again!]

The appearance of these things made everyone even more shocked.

"Damn, Brother Lin is really rich. He just scattered 1 billion USD like that?"

"I heard that this money is specifically used for TikTok to pull new users. Brothers, we are lucky. We can be considered to have eaten the candy scattered by Brother Lin!"

"Haha, did you see the preheating? TikTok has a super big red envelope for this Spring Festival activity. You get money for pulling new people!"

"Taking Brother Lin's money to give to us, Zhang Yiming, you kid have really broadened your path!"

"I was originally thinking about asking my family to register for TikTok, but it looks like I can wait on that for now and do it during the Spring Festival!"