boyutpedia 72. Russian version of Alipay
72. Russian version of Alipay
Li Xiang was contacted by Yandex, one of Russia's three major internet giants.
Yandex, dubbed the "Russian version of Baidu," has also ventured into e-commerce, leveraging its search engine's traffic advantage, but its own subsidiary has not performed well.
Ozon, dubbed the "Russian version of Taobao," dominates the Russian e-commerce market, holding 40% of the market share. Its competitiveness has further increased after building its own logistics network, making it the website with the best shopping experience, bar none.
Competing against Ozon on the same level is definitely not an option.
To stand out from the crowd, you need to differentiate yourself.
Every great company is born because it solves a problem, rather than engaging in a zero-sum game. Shopee focuses on cross-border shopping.
There are three major pain points to overseas shopping: complicated procedures, long processing time, and lack of after-sales service.
Shopee's centralized sourcing, local delivery, and website warranty for some products perfectly solve these three pain points.
Take the currently popular iPhone as an example. Apple does not offer after-sales service in Russia, but orders placed on Shopee come with a free one-year warranty.
Yandex is one of Russia's first internet giants and has no shortage of money. Will Shopee's business logic be successful?
You'll only know if you try.
VK's investor, DST (Russian version of email), is also very interested in Shopee, but Li Xiang still prefers to receive investment from Yandex.
There are only two core supporting facilities for e-commerce: logistics and payment.
Yandex.Money, the "Russian version of Alipay" owned by Yandex, is the most popular online payment tool in Russia.
The daily transaction volume exceeds 10,000.
Online banking penetration in Russia is very low, making e-wallets the simplest alternative.
However, Yandex.Money has not yet obtained a payment license in Russia...
It's not that we don't want to apply, it's that the law is lagging behind. There's no concept of a "payment license" at all. If we wait until it's legal, the market will be gone by then.
But Yandex didn't go completely naked; it partnered with a bank, borrowed the bank's license, and packaged the e-wallet as a derivative service.
This also has an advantage: you can deposit money directly into an ATM.
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Yandex's venture capital arm held a video conference with Li Xiang.
"Valuation is not something to discuss in advance. I chose you because I have a core objective: I want to acquire Yandex.Money. As long as you are willing to sell, I'm open to cash or stock acquisition."
The other side was a bit confused.
"Mr. Li, your request is a bit too sudden. I can't give you an answer right away. Let's talk about something else first."
"We can offer you more than just funding; we can also provide you with Yandex traffic."
"You were indeed very lucky this time, catching the wave of the Apple phone boom, but this is a one-time bonus that will soon pass. We can provide Shopee with continuous exposure."
Li Xiang then steered the conversation back to the topic.
"My purpose in raising funds is to solve the payment problem. It would be best if I could buy an existing one, but if I can't, I'll make it myself. Then we'll be competitors."
"Of course I have no problem. The key is you guys. It's like fighting between your left and right hands. E-commerce and payment both have conflicting interests. How do you balance them?"
The other party compromised, saying, "I can help you coordinate and see if we can exchange some of Yandex.Money's shares. This would be a guarantee for both of us. What do you think?"
Li Xiang insisted, "Your investment in my company means you can't never reduce your holdings. Our strategic alliance has an expiration date."
"What will happen to me after you reduce your holdings?"
"I need to have my own payment tool. Either give me control of Yandex.Money, or I'll do it myself."
"If we can't reach an agreement on the core issues, there's no point in discussing the others; it's all a waste of time."
The sanctions started in 14, even before Russia and Ukraine went to war.
Li Xiang needed to prepare for a breakup in advance; he was too closely tied to Yandex…
Holding hands and flying kites on a rainy day, are we waiting to be struck by lightning together?
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Johnnie To's latest film, "Mad Detective," will premiere as the closing film of the Venice International Film Festival on September 5.
As the second male lead, Nicholas Tse needs to cooperate with the promotion.
Taking advantage of the popularity of "Mad Detective", Mani Fok helped Nicholas Tse get a new film, "Men's True Colors", in which he plays the male lead and filming is about to wrap up and be released.
She also has to juggle her work as a singer and attend concerts.
In the past six months, Nicholas Tse's career has been developing very smoothly, but he has been too busy, spending almost all his time on work.
The films "Mad Detective" and "Men in Black" are related to Nicholas Tse's business transformation.
He has already made an appointment with Cecilia Cheung that after the two films are released, regardless of how the box office is, they will go on vacation and rest for a while.
Zhang Baizhi has been very busy lately. China Star knows she's getting married, so they're working hard to get her commercial performances before her contract expires.
The seamless cooperation between Yinghuang and China Star is also related to the downturn in Hong Kong's film and television industry, as they are preparing to collaborate on buying gaming licenses in Macau.
Yinghuang can still hold on thanks to its record business.
China Star is already trying to make a quick buck; once they've squeezed every last drop of value out of Zhang Baizhi, they'll completely switch careers and quit.
"Where did you park your car?" Zhang Baizhi had just finished work at the photography studio and was calling his friend. "I saw it, I'm coming right now."
Zhang Baizhi crossed the road, got into the car, and sat in the passenger seat.
"Busy guy, why are you suddenly inviting me to dinner?"
"Great news, you're going to make a fortune." The person who came to see Zhang Baizhi was her venture capital friend Xia Dongyuan, who worked as an analyst at SoftBank Asia.
"Is it possible to subscribe to pre-IPO shares again? Which company is it?"
Xia Dongyuan has resources, and Zhang Baizhi has spare money; their strengths complement each other.
"My uncle's Russian brother, his e-commerce platform Shopee, has started its Series A funding round. VKontakte missed out on investing last time, so they'd better seize this opportunity."
Xia Dongyuan was a novice driver and waited a long time before she found an opportunity to turn around.
"Drive slowly," Zhang Baizhi reminded him.
Xia Dongyuan said self-deprecatingly, "I do want to be fast, but I have to dare to."
Zhang Baizhi fastened his seatbelt and sighed, "Li Xiang is quite easy to talk to, but when he looks for investment, he'll definitely prioritize Russian domestic capital, just like VK. Don't get your hopes up too high."
Xia Dongyuan said, "I'm just a junior clerk. Even if I help our company secure this investment, how much bonus will I get? At most a few hundred thousand. That's not even enough to buy a good location for a toilet in Hong Kong."
"Do you know what VK's valuation is now? SoftBank headquarters offered them a valuation of $1.7 million, but they didn't agree."
"This is a golden opportunity for Shopee. If they can give us even a small share of their funding, we could multiply our investment tenfold and achieve financial freedom immediately."
"Why should they let us invest?" Zhang Baizhi has some family wealth, and for her, achieving upward social mobility would require at least hundreds of millions of yuan.
Earn ten or twenty million...
It's not that it's not tempting, but it's at least within the realm of reason.
"Think of a way," Xia Dongyuan said, turning to look at Zhang Baizhi.
"I'll think of a way?" Zhang Baizhi's expression was slightly taken aback.
Xia Dongyuan pursed her lips and said meaningfully, "Give it a try. How will you know it won't work if you don't try? What if he falls for it?"
"He doesn't like women; I've never seen him with any woman." Zhang Baizhi chuckled, lost in thought. "Does he like my dad's type?"
Xia Dongyuan burst out laughing and slammed on the brakes.
"How do you drive?" I almost got rear-ended, and my road rage kicked in.