Before I talked about how long Weilai can live, Weilai to change electricity and Weilai service, but many people do not know, in fact, Weilai is still an investment company. And many of the innovative features of Niolai's new car are quietly realized through the quiet behind the scenes of NIO Capital, such as the Innovution lidar that big and small horses have talked about, noLO car VR headset, Nreal car AR glasses, etc., all of which have been invested by WEILAI. So today I will dig deeper from three aspects: how hard is the background of WEILAI capital? How strong is the investment? Where will you invest in the future?
I'm Danny Jr., talking about cars and talking about technology. This is the second episode of "Egg Mud Talk Capital", although after I talked about Tencent Investment in the last episode, I received various complaints and reports from Penguin to delete the flow, and even a lawyer's letter, but as long as everyone thinks that this series is valuable, I will continue to do it, and talk about Tencent Investment's little brother today - Weilai Capital.
First of all, let's talk about the first point: how hard is the background of NIO Capital?
Zhu Yan is the original big man in the investment circle, and has previously led many intelligent electric vehicle projects in Qingyun Venture Capital.
Yu Ning was recruited by WEI CAPITAL from Li Shufu, who served as vice president of Geely Holdings and joined NIO in mid-2018.
In fact, before Yu Ning, Weilai Capital also had a fat partner named Zhang Junyi, who was first introduced by Sequoia to partner with Li Bin Zhuyan, but in the past two years, his voice in Weilai Capital has become smaller and smaller, and his information cannot be found on the official website, I guess either he left his job, or he was marginalized.
Later, I basically verified my conclusion in Tianyancha, and the company in which he served as a legal person, shareholder and senior executive of NIO Capital was either written off or transferred to Zhu Yan and Yu Ning of NIO Capital. Therefore, it can be basically confirmed that Yu Ning came to replace Zhang Junyi.
Zhu Yan once said a very arrogant sentence: "Weilai Capital's strategy, others can't play, because you don't have such a large amount of funds." "Well, then let's see how big NIO's fund really is, and there is a press release saying that NIO's overall management scale is tens of billions."
Then let's analyze the two parts of NIO's management fund in detail: the US dollar fund and the RMB fund. The US dollar is invested in the early and medium term, and the RENMINBI investment is long-term and mature.
The US dollar fund can check that the total target of eve One L.P. in 2018 is 480 million US dollars, and the actual fundraising is 210 million.
What is more interesting is that Porsche Ventures also participated in the investment of the US dollar fund of Nio at that time.
On March 21 this year, NIO announced that it had raised $400 million in the second phase of the US dollar fund, totaling US$610 million, or almost 3.9 billion yuan.
Looking at the RMB fund, although the first delivery time is earlier than the US dollar fund, NIO has not disclosed the total amount of RMB fund fundraising, and the latest announcement only says that "the second phase of the RMB fund is closed for the first time." ”
I went forward, WEILAI Capital said that in 2017, the first phase of the RMB fund was completed, which was jointly initiated by NIO, Sequoia, Hillhouse and Hubei Yangtze River Industry Fund, with a target size of 10 billion yuan.
But it is said that the actual arrival of the account is only about 3 billion, I guess this is also related to the "darkest moment" experienced by Weilai at that time, especially the worst time of the loss of tens of billions in 2018, which directly frightened everyone.
Originally, Weilai Automobile was going to build a 200,000 vehicle base in Wuhan Optics Valley, investing 20-30 billion yuan, everyone knows that it was cool later, fortunately, Hefei saved Weilai.
Overall, I estimate that the first phase of NIO Capital's US dollar + RMB fund has raised less than 5 billion. Counting the second phase of fundraising completed in March this year, the overall amount has just exceeded 10 billion, so the first stage of "fundraising" of WEI Capital in the four major links of the fund is not as smooth as blown in the press release.
And I am still optimistic estimate, some data service providers (IT orange) give NIO capital management scale of only 5 billion yuan.
So everyone should keep an eye on the news in the future, the plan to set up a tens of billions of funds and the actual funds raised to the money, often very different, want to WM Motors also set up a tens of billions of industrial funds, now do not mention, the reason you know.
Just like when we were young, we all had to go to Tsinghua Peking University, but in fact, what school did you get into, and you didn't have a number of coins in your heart?
Then the second point: how strong is NIO Investment?
After talking about "fundraising", then talk about "voting". There were 67 public investment incidents in NIO Capital, and a total of 5 investments were made from January to February this year.
Although the number is much worse than the Tencent investment I talked about in the last episode, it is much worse than a dozen times a month, but WEI Capital has also invested in many star companies, including Wincher Technology, Momenta, Xiaoma Zhixing, Aodong New Energy, Tick Travel and so on.
The most noteworthy thing is that on February 24, NIO Capital invested in The Sunwoda Battery, or invested with Youshang Ideal Automobile, GAC Capital, Dongfeng Assets, etc., it is said that Sky Top is a Related Investment Entity of Xiaopeng. So everyone said "Wei Xiaoli" together to hold the group, the world bitter Ningde era battery price increase lack of electricity for a long time, it is time to support a battery brother.
There is a phenomenon that is very interesting, in fact, before WEILAI Capital also invested in the Ningde era, it is definitely a good investment case, but on the official website of NIO Capital's Chinese, it is not placed in the case database of "investment companies".
You want to say that WEILAI Capital invested in Sunwoda not long ago, before it was time to update me, I also believed, but there is no news of the Ningde era, I think it is absolutely deliberate, I guess the reason is that after all, the relationship between "Nio capital" and "Niolai Automobile" is too close, and the battery is the core parts of Weilai Automobile, Weilai does not want people to feel that they are standing in line, in case they want to change suppliers, it is easy to misunderstand, so Weilai Capital deliberately low-key publicity of the news that it has invested in the Ningde era and Xinwanda, If I accidentally say the right thing, don't be angry with The Old Brother Weilai.
Later, in an interview with Yu Ning, I found that NIO's investment in the Ningde era had withdrawn. However, in the corner of Weilai's latest announcement, it is said that the Ningde era is its own successful investment case, which is a bit contradictory: propaganda, but not full publicity.
If we look at the investment direction of NIO Capital, it can be divided into 6 major investment directions: automatic driving and intelligent systems, vehicle networking travel services, new energy and energy Internet, electric vehicles and core components, advanced manufacturing, and enterprise services. Among the 6 major investment directions, which direction of NIO has the most investment? You can guess it, and I'll tell you the answer later.
On the whole, these 6 major directions are still around the upstream and downstream of Weilai Automobile, in the words of Zhu Yan: "The future automotive industry is an alliance-style competition, including car companies, Internet giants, new technology companies and capital, we hope to build a Circle of Friends of Weilai Capital, and partners in the circle of friends can benefit." ”
I guess Zhu Yan's original words were "benefit" rather than "benefit", weilai capital official website wrote two typos, accidentally said the big truth. And how this sounds so familiar, very similar to the "ecology" that I talked about tencent investment in the last episode, it seems that everyone wants to play huddle. What are the companies that everyone gathers the most?
That's the answer to my previous question: NIO has invested the most in "autonomous driving and intelligent systems". I counted, there are a total of 33 investment projects displayed on the official website of NIO Capital, including 12 "automatic driving and intelligent systems", 5 "vehicle networking travel services", 5 "new energy and energy Internet", including "Aodong New Energy" that Big and Small Malaysia talked about before, "electric vehicles and core parts" there are 2, "advanced manufacturing" has 4, and "enterprise services" have 5.
In this episode, I talk about Weilai Capital, if you want to enter the smart electric vehicle related industry, what industry has more potential? "Autonomous driving and intelligent systems" to understand. Let's take a closer look at which 12 companies NIO has invested in in "Autonomous Driving and Intelligent System": including Wincher Technology, Momenta, Xiaoma Zhixing, Innovusion, Black Sesame, Mainline Technology, Guangyi Technology, NReal, Cloud Leopard Technology, Biling Technology, NOLO VR and Easy Control Intelligent Driving. Which company are you interested in? I can focus on that later.
In fact, I am more interested in the NOLO car VR headset mentioned by Weilai at the ET5 conference at the end of last year and the Nreal car AR glasses, and Li Bin also arrogantly said at the conference: "With such an experience, there is really no need for so many screens in the car." "
Good guys, the ideal car as a well-known car screen more, no wonder later Li wanted to hold back, but also sent a special Weibo chat about the VR equipment in the car to replace the screen: "Don't easily mislead consumers with the concept, let alone randomly define which products you have not used at all", although it is not directly said to respond to Weilai, but understand everything.
Which side are you on this round? I personally prefer Li Xiang's point of view, now say that VR and AR equipment in the car to replace the screen, it is too early, not to mention the car VR and AR, now even at home to use VR and AR is not 6.
And even if NIO has car VR and AR, this is not an excuse for the two screen designs of WEILAI ET5 and ET7 to pull the crotch, I will say three problems:
First, the topmost edge of the two screens is badly misaligned. Obsessive-compulsive disorder can't stand it, this kind of low-level error even the EC6 I used to open before did not have this problem.
Second, the central control screen is still a vertical screen, and it cannot be rotated horizontally like BYD, so that the visual picture is too small when watching the video.
Third, the instrument screen integration is too poor, everyone complains that Tesla Model 3 and Model Y do not have a meter screen is already uncomfortable enough, Weilai ET5 and ET7 simply give you a Taobao back of the feeling of the screen, looks particularly ugly, anyway, I personally am unbearable to this aesthetic, who loves to endure who endures.
The above three points are important reasons for me to unsubscribe from ET7, as well as the rear seats can not be reclined, the trunk is small, etc., before I wrote a summary of ET7 advantages and disadvantages on Weibo, interested can go to the top.
Speaking of Weilai Capital, finally talk about the third point: where to invest in the future?
Although Yu Ning said: From the first day of its establishment, NIO Capital has not been the investment department of NIO.
There is a saying that NIO Capital and NIO Automobile are indeed two different corporate entities, but whether it is Li Bin as an important founder of the two companies, or the investment direction of NIO Capital and the upstream and downstream of NIO Automobile, you can see just from the name of the word "WEILAI", the relationship between NIO Capital and NIO Auto is inseparable.
Here I popularize science, the investment entities of general large factories can be divided into two kinds: one is called CVC (Corporate Venture Capital), that is, the investment department within the enterprise, commonly known as the strategic investment department, such as I have worked in an e-commerce listed company CVC for two years before, and the Tencent investment department I talked about before, the byte layoff war investment department of big and small Ma Liao Technology, etc., all belong to CVC; the other is to change the name and set up a capital company entity separately. For example, Xiaomi's Shunwei Capital, Meituan's Dragon Ball, Ali's Yunfeng and so on.
However, the positioning of WEILAI Capital feels very ambiguous between the relationship between the two. If CVC is likened to marriage, and a name-changing capital company entity is like falling in love, then NIO Capital is like an intermediate engagement state.
So, where will NIO invest in the future? The answer is very simple and crude: what Weilai Automobile lacks, Weilai Capital will invest in.
Zhu Yan once said a sentence that is very interesting: "The integration of the three major industries of automobiles, hard technology and energy will burst out of unlimited opportunities and possibilities." "I agree with this sentence, but in the past, NIO Capital has also invested in companies that have nothing to do with the integration of the three major industries of automobiles, hard technology and energy, and it has little to do with NIO, such as NIO Capital invested in online collaborative office suite graphite at the end of 2019.
If WEILAI Capital is smart, it will focus on those companies that are closely related to WEILAI Automobile in the future, such as the lack of chips mentioned by Li Bin in the 2021 annual earnings call, weilai capital will focus on the layout of chip companies, after all, you Weilai capital does not have so much room for trial and error as Tencent investment that I talked about in the last episode.
If there is a problem with Weilai Automobile, then Weilai Capital will not be better, think about why the WM Industrial Fund I talked about before is not working, you will understand. In addition to chips, what is weilai car missing? In other words, what company does NIO need to invest in?
You can see that since the second half of last year, the delivery of Weilai Automobile has gradually fallen behind, and this year, even the top 3 of the new car-making forces cannot be ranked in, and they are surpassed by the ideal, Xiaopeng and Nezha, if you add Tesla and BYD, Weilai fell out of the top five, and the players such as Zero Run, Extreme Krypton, Lantu, and Huawei Qingjie also rushed very fiercely, not to mention the xiaomi, mavericks and other car-making update forces after that.
If you have often driven a variety of new energy vehicles like me, you know why Weilai has fallen behind, mainly in the past two years, Weilai's car, the iteration speed is too slow compared to Tesla Xiaopeng Ideal and other friends, so that Weilai's ES8, ES6, EC6 three old models, before this year's remodeling, the product force is indeed not very good. The battery life is not too strong, the car machine all kinds of cards, the reason Li Bin also said in the earnings conference call: the 866 intelligent cockpit hardware level is already relatively old, so Weilai will consider providing 8155 chips and 5G communication module upgrade services for old car owners later.
Now consumers are very smart, product competitiveness in the end is not OK, the information is very transparent, Weilai sales decline in the past six months is obviously the best proof, but Weilai public relations is always smart, always love to play the "king of the definite language" I talked about in the previous video.
For example, Weilai emphasized in the 2021 annual financial report that Weilai is the first SUV market share of more than 350,000 yuan in Shanghai in 2021.
Good guys, four consecutive fixed words have shown me ignorance: "2021, Shanghai, more than 350,000 yuan, SUV", even the city term has been added, and the 350,000 this price card is extremely accurate, accurately hit the ideal One and Model Y sell the best standard endurance version, but also all of Weilai's own three 866 models are counted, and finally concluded: Weilai market share of 23% ranked first.
We have to say that Weilai PUBLIC RELATIONS is indeed a language master, but do you really not understand consumers? At this time, Weilai then through 4 fixed words to make a first, just like I said that little Danny is the knowledge area height of more than 185, weight of more than 85 kilograms, love to dig pits of the up master of the most handsome, feel very deliberate, Weilai is not as good as more at the beginning of the financial report to focus on the promotion of power system construction process, service satisfaction, research and development investment, cash reserve cattle than these differentiated characteristics, rather than blunt self-titled as 4 fixed words Weilai first, cover the ear and steal the bell.
If you want to be really strict, the "king of the definite words" is no big problem, but it will always give people a "greasy" feeling, play a little clever, and treat consumers as fools. I personally actually appreciate Buffett, Charlie Munger, Duan Yongping kind of frank and straightforward entrepreneurs, in my opinion, the early Weilai corporate culture has this frank and straightforward, is a very rare trait, but in the past two years, Weilai public relations has changed its people, the "King of Definite Words" is used repeatedly, and communication with users feels more and more "greasy".
Looking forward to the new car can perform better after the future, Weilai is one of the new forces in China that I am most optimistic about, and has walked out of a road completely different from Tesla's intelligent electric vehicle with Chinese characteristics, the power-up system, user service, design language, etc. are unique, and even Nio Life has become my first choice for daily snacks. But it may also be precisely because Weilai has done so many things, causing Weilai's car to be too slow to iterate in the past two years, the most typical of which is that the ET7 delivery I originally ordered had to wait more than 400 days.
I hope that WEILAI Automobile can focus more on the main business with the help of WEILAI Capital, after all, intelligent electric vehicles are the king, and I also hope that Several new cars in Weilai can have better performance and can obtain a few fixed words.
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I'm Little Danny, talk about cars and talk about technology, we'll see you in the next episode!