Zhuangyu Catering, General Manager’s Office.
Su Kai and Yuan Li sat opposite each other, chatting about interesting anecdotes from the world of business management and investment.
"President Yuan, if you’ll permit me to be blunt, a firm of Sequoia’s caliber could easily acquire all the shares your company is offering in its Series A round. Why not let Sequoia be the sole investor?"
Su Kai was finally showing his true colors.
A mere 2% stake was nowhere near enough to satisfy his appetite.
A valuation of one billion US dollars was an astronomical figure, difficult for a newly established firm like Black Ant Capital to accept.
But for Sequoia, it was barely worth a second glance.
Typically, Sequoia wouldn’t even enter the scene until after the Series B round.
Su Kai was in Chengdu on a business trip when he heard about a hot pot restaurant that had a two-hour wait.
Drawn by its reputation, he’d come to check it out and was instantly struck with the idea of investing.
"President Su, I’m confident that with Sequoia’s power, it’s only a matter of time before you could replace Black Ant Capital as Spicy King’s largest institutional shareholder."
Yuan Li didn’t refuse him outright, but her meaning was perfectly clear.
"But—"
Just as Su Kai was about to press his case, there was a sudden knock on the door.
"Come in."
Yuan Li gave Su Kai an apologetic smile and called for the secretary who had knocked to enter.
"President Yuan, President He and President Zhang from Black Ant Capital have arrived in the conference room. They want to sign the share purchase agreement as soon as possible."
The young secretary who entered was none other than Lai Manling, the one who had so stunningly impressed Qi Sheng at the annual gala.
After the New Year, Zhuangyu Catering had been busy expanding and had opened up some internal positions.
Lai Manling had beaten out numerous competitors to become Yuan Li’s much-admired young secretary.
"Don’t they need to perform due diligence?"
Yuan Li paused, then suddenly glanced at Su Kai and couldn’t help but chuckle.
’No wonder Black Ant Capital is in such a hurry. They have Sequoia, the big boss of the venture capital world, watching like a hawk.’
’How could they possibly worry about due diligence? They won’t rest easy until the contract is signed.’
"President He is here?"
Su Kai smiled upon hearing this. "President He and I are old friends. We invested in Pop Mart together. I never thought we’d end up co-investing in Spicy King as well."
"It just goes to show that both you and President He have excellent investment foresight."
Yuan Li suddenly felt a wave of emotion as she recalled her initial worries.
At the time, she had thought the one-billion-US-dollar valuation Qi Sheng had proposed was a bit outrageous.
But with Black Ant and Sequoia both coming to their door and accepting that valuation, her confidence was fully restored.
She had even used that valuation to turn away all subsequent venture capital firms that came inquiring.
If they didn’t accept the valuation, there was simply no need to waste each other’s time.
A one-billion-US-dollar valuation was enough to deter many venture capital firms with more conservative investment philosophies or weaker financial backing.
But a good project never lacks for investors.
Black Ant and Sequoia clearly both had a sharp eye for opportunity.
"President Yuan, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go say hello to my old friend."
Su Kai could just imagine how anxious He Yu must be.
That was the kind of status Sequoia held in the world of venture capital.
Once Sequoia had its eye on a high-quality project, smaller VCs didn’t stand a chance of getting in.
The valuation would be driven so high that they simply couldn’t afford it.
"Of course, President Su. Please."
Yuan Li smiled and gestured for him to proceed, walking with Su Kai toward the conference room.
「...」
In the conference room.
Ever since he had entered, He Yu had been drinking tea nonstop.
It was a subconscious habit of his when he was nervous.
"Old He, stop drinking. Are you trying to make your bladder explode?"
"Just watching you drink is making me need to use the restroom."
Zhang Peiyuan watched his old partner, speechless, but he understood how the man felt.
He Yu had been telling the driver to speed up the whole way here, rushing straight from the airport.
He was terrified that if they were late, they would miss out on Spicy King—a dark horse in the catering industry with the potential to become a super-unicorn.
"Is President Yuan not here yet?"
He Yu subconsciously glanced at his watch.
Although he had been in the conference room for less than ten minutes, it felt like an eternity.
"She should be here soon. The secretary already went to inform her."
Zhang Peiyuan started to feel nervous as well. Suddenly, he heard the crisp sound of high heels clicking on the floor.
"She’s here!"
Zhang Peiyuan and He Yu exchanged a look, and both couldn’t help but smile.
’Chairman Qi is truly a man of his word!’
"My apologies, President He, President Zhang. I was just meeting with President Su, so I couldn’t greet you immediately. Please don’t take offense."
Yuan Li walked in with a smile, immediately putting the two of them at ease.
"Haha, we’ll be family from now on. There’s no need for such formalities."
He Yu quickly shook hands with Yuan Li.
Seeing Su Kai walk in behind her, he felt a secret wave of relief.
He had come so close to missing the opportunity to invest in Spicy King.
"President He, long time no see."
Su Kai smiled and extended his hand, genuinely impressed by his old friend’s foresight.
"President Su, I didn’t expect you to have your eye on Spicy King too. Good thing I moved quickly."
After shaking hands with Su Kai, He Yu quickly took out the prepared share purchase agreement.
"President Yuan, I’ve filled in the contract details. The valuation is one billion US dollars, and Black Ant Capital will hold a 3% stake. The thirty million US dollars will be transferred to Spicy King’s account within a week."
Yuan Li nodded with a smile and carefully reviewed the contract details. Once she confirmed there were no issues, she signed and stamped it.
"President He, welcome aboard the Spicy King juggernaut. And congratulations on becoming Spicy King’s second-largest shareholder."
He Yu let out a sigh of relief and waved his hand with a smile.
"Don’t tease me. A measly 3% stake? What kind of second-largest shareholder is that? The most important thing is that we managed to get on board."
"President Yuan, now that Black Ant Capital has signed their share purchase agreement, we will also complete our due diligence process as quickly as possible. In a week at most, we will likewise transfer twenty million US dollars to your company’s account."
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