Battle rises, CVC’s empire surface emerges
Editor’s note: This article comes from WeChat public account “ Investment World “(ID: pedalai2012), author Yang Jiyun.
In the winter of 2004, Liu Chiping accepted Ma Huateng’s second invitation and flew from Manhattan to Shenzhen alone.
He gave up the superior treatment of Goldman Sachs and served as the chief strategy officer of Tencent, mainly in charge of three things-strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and investor relations. Prior to this, Tencent’s three things have been left unattended, and Ma Huateng is waiting for someone whose vision fits him.
Since then, a CVC (corporate venture capital) has emerged that is “the strongest on the surface.” According to incomplete statistics, Liu Chiping has been in charge of Tencent’s strategic investment department for more than ten years and has achieved outstanding results: investing in more than 700 companies and harvesting nearly 70 IPOs. He also recruited Zhang Xiaolong for Tencent through strategic investment. At that time, Zhang Xiaolong, who sold FoxMail and worked for Boda, planned to go to the United States. Tencent acquired FoxMail from Boda. Zhang Xiaolong joined Tencent, only to have the WeChat legend behind him.
This is strategic investment-the most mysterious legion in the Internet circle. Tencent has Liu Chiping and Ali has Cai Chongxin. They are all from venture capital. They later took the lead of the giant’s strategic investment department, holding huge amounts of “buy, buy, buy” and unlimitedly expand the territory of Internet giants. .
In 2019, China’s local venture capital has fallen into the winter quagmire, but CVC represented by BAT has ushered in an explosion: Ali has made 18 billion yuan, Tencent has harvested nearly 70 IPOs, and the Internet giant war investment department has captured China Half of the new economy … After 20 years of stumbles, China’s CVC has quietly become an indispensable force in the venture capital circle.
Looking forward, an empire territory belonging to CVC emerges-in addition to BAT, emerging giants such as JD.com, Xiaomi, Byte Beat, Meituan Review, Didi and others have all set up their own strategic investment departments, at the expense of buying Zhongyi Projects, the investment strength of these small giants is no less than that of front-line VC / PE institutions. CVC has gradually become a unique landscape in the magnificent history of Chinese venture capital.
The most mysterious department, Unveiling the Strategic Investment Department of Internet Big Companies
Reputable, but infrequently appearing, the strategic investment departments of Internet giants can be considered secret.
Tencent, an important player in CVC, has not only the engine and engine of its new strategy, but also the responsible for ensuring the cooperation and synergy of business departments and investments. In 2008, Tencent established its own investment and mergers and acquisitions department. It is said that this department once had an internal home page that other departments did not have, did not bear the company’s KPI indicators, and had very high confidentiality requirements.
Apart from Tencent, Ali’s war investment department has also received much attention from VC / PE. Tencent Liu Chiping and Ali Cai Chongxin, these two people who have the highest status within the group represent their respective war investment departments to a certain extent. Representatives of the two investment bankers jumped out of the circle early to join the startup and became the men behind Ma Huateng and Ma Yun. There is not much public information. Except for their early career experience and the smooth sailing after joining BAT, all the strategic investment decisions to kill the results and forward-looking deployments can only be glimpsed in the investment maps of Tencent and Ali. One or two.
To this day, for the BAT who bought half of the Internet, the battlefield has already become an extremely important legion of the group. For a long time, the domestic Internet circle has inextricably linked with BAT. Whoever intersects with and is compiled by them is an inevitable “station team” consideration after the company grows.
However, BAT’s three-point world is over. If it is said that before 2017, the main force of domestic Internet CVCs was BAT, but since 2016, head companies represented by Byte Beat, JD.com, Meituan Reviews, Didi, Xiaomi, etc. have become important. Buyer.
In the battle investment departments of many big Internet companies, the byte-beating investment team is the most secretive. In the past two years, the bytes of people who have been suspicioned and wondering which side of the team BAT are beating, not only do they not explicitly trust who they are, they have also become the one to collect others, but the news of acquisition has never been actively disclosed. In 2017, a collaboration document APP was about to announce financing news. The company’s PR team told reporters at the time of the release that it could downplay the “today’s headline” in the financing news because investors were unwilling to say more.
“This is the most mysterious department on the headline.” ByteDance said to the investment community (ID: pedaily2012). Obviously, this kind of mystery is also created in the company. As the director of the byte-beating battle investment department, Yan’s resume information is very little, and even how many people share the work can’t know the outside world.
Looking back at history, the story of CVC originates from the beginning of the last century. In 1914, DuPont’s investment in General Motors was regarded as the starting point of CVC. Later, the oil company Exxon invested in 37 companies successively with the “venture investment plan”, which once attracted the attention of VCs. Enterprise risk The era of investment began.
84 years later, the seeds of CVC drifted across the sea and took root in China.In 1998, the first year of China’s CVC investment, Shida Group’s foreign investment of 12 million yuan was considered to be China’s first CVC investment case.
For 20 years, China’s CVC has formed a powerful legion of venture capital circles.
background of the boss, Dachang Battle Investment Department and VC / PE, which one is more difficult to enter?
It is even more unpredictable that it is the boss of the major investment and investment departments of major factories.
In April of this year, The Information, the technology media, revealed the organization structure and division of personnel responsibilities of BYTE, including 106 corporate executives and the business lines behind them. The leader of BYTE ’s investment team emerged only after being awarded by Yan Bao water surface.
Yan Shu joined ByteDance in 2015 as Zhang Yiming’s business assistant. According to The Information, the number of investment teams led by Yan Yan is quite large. There are 16 employees reporting directly to him, which is comparable to the number of a mature VC / PE team.
Before Yan Yan took over the strategic investment department, the beating strategy department and the investment department had changed their heads many times: Chu Dachen, Hua Wei, and Tian Xiaoan. The backgrounds were former vice president of strategy of Sina Group and former Phoenix Network. The head of the investment department and the former managing director of CICC, currently Hua Wei is the deputy general manager of Byte Beat and is in charge of human resources. Tian Xiaoan is the vice president and CFO of Byte Beat.
The Baidu Battle Investment Department has also undergone many adjustments. Once, Baidu’s investment and mergers and acquisitions department took on all Baidu’s investment actions, but was questioned that its investment decisions were much less efficient than those of Ali and Tencent. In September and October 2016, Baidu successively established two market-oriented funds, focusing on early-stage Baidu venture capital and focusing on mid- and late-stage Baidu capital, responsible for financial investment. The original investment and mergers and acquisitions department has become Baidu’s strategic investment department (Baidu Battle Investment).
He is currently in charge of Baidu’s war investment department. He Junjie, who joined in June, is the vice president of Baidu. He is responsible for the group’s investment and acquisition department and strategic investment management department. Prior to He Junjie, Ma Dongmin, who was highly tied to Li Yanhong, actually controlled Baidu’s war investment. Although he did not hold office, he was a direct leader. According to Baidu’s investment department, “It has been reported to Ma Dongmin now.”
In contrast, Ali’s Cai Chongxin has more stories. Cai Chongxin, who quit his high-paying job at that time and joined Ali, was regarded as an idol by numerous entrepreneurs. He built an Ali strategic investment team from scratch.
It is even more unpredictable that it is the boss of the major investment and investment departments of major factories.
In April of this year, The Information, the technology media, revealed the organization structure and division of personnel responsibilities of BYTE, including 106 corporate executives and the business lines behind them. The leader of BYTE ’s investment team emerged only after being awarded by Yan Bao water surface.
Yan Shu joined ByteDance in 2015 as Zhang Yiming’s business assistant. According to The Information, the number of investment teams led by Yan Yan is quite large. There are 16 employees reporting directly to him, which is comparable to the number of a mature VC / PE team.
Before Yan Yan took over the strategic investment department, the beating strategy department and the investment department had changed their heads many times: Chu Dachen, Hua Wei, and Tian Xiaoan. The backgrounds were former vice president of strategy of Sina Group and former Phoenix Network. The head of the investment department and the former managing director of CICC, currently Hua Wei is the deputy general manager of Byte Beat and is in charge of human resources. Tian Xiaoan is the vice president and CFO of Byte Beat.
The Baidu Battle Investment Department has also undergone many adjustments. Once, Baidu’s investment and mergers and acquisitions department took on all Baidu’s investment actions, but was questioned that its investment decisions were much less efficient than those of Ali and Tencent. In September and October 2016, Baidu successively established two market-oriented funds, focusing on early-stage Baidu venture capital and focusing on mid- and late-stage Baidu capital, responsible for financial investment. The original investment and mergers and acquisitions department has become Baidu’s strategic investment department (Baidu Battle Investment).
He is currently in charge of Baidu’s war investment department. He Junjie, who joined in June, is the vice president of Baidu. He is responsible for the group’s investment and acquisition department and strategic investment management department. Prior to He Junjie, Ma Dongmin, who was highly tied to Li Yanhong, actually controlled Baidu’s war investment. Although he did not hold office, he was a direct leader. According to Baidu’s investment department, “It has been reported to Ma Dongmin now.”
In contrast, Ali’s Cai Chongxin has more stories. Cai Chongxin, who quit his high-paying job at that time and joined Ali, was regarded as an idol by numerous entrepreneurs. He built an Ali strategic investment team from scratch.