On March 23, 2021, Baidu successfully landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The issue price was HK$252, the opening price was HK$256.6, and the market value exceeded HK$720 billion. Founded in 2000, Baidu can be said to be a legend in the history of the Internet in China. In the PC era, Baidu was the absolute king. 16 years ago, Baidu created the US IPO myth by relying on its aura as "the world's largest Chinese search engine company"; now, Baidu has returned to Hong Kong as the "first AI stock" to be listed, and Hong Kong stocks have gathered BAT for the first time.
IDG Capital Xiong Xiaoge video
On the occasion of the second listing, Xiong Xiaoge, an early investor in Baidu and founder and chairman of IDG Capital, lamented: “From 2005 to now, It has not been easy for Baidu in the past 16 years.”
Baidu is one of the classic investment cases in IDG Capital’s early career. At the same time, IDG also participated in the spin-off of three Baidu companies: iQiyi, Xiaodu and Kunlun Chip, and has been with them for 20 years.
Xiong Xiaoge introduced venture capital to China in 1993 and has successively invested in Tencent, Baidu, Sohu, Soufang, Hanting, Homeinns, CreditEase, Xiaomi, Ctrip, Qihoo 360, Legendary Pictures, Baofeng Technology, Wuzhen, Gubei Water Town, Meitu, etc., TMT is the core investment sector. Shen Nanpeng founded Sequoia China in 2005, focusing on VC investment; Zhang Lei founded Hillhouse Capital in 2005 and is the number one PE brother.
The three founders are all top investors, and various media have been debating who is the No. 1 in the industry?
When Xiong Xiaoge was admitted to Hunan University, the college entrance examination was resumed in 1977. At that time, 10-year-old Shen Nanpeng was already recognized as the top math student in the class, while Zhang Lei was only 5 years old.
In 1985, the top academic Shen Nanpeng was recommended to Shanghai Jiao Tong University. At that time, Xiong Xiaoge had been an English teacher for four years after graduation, and was admitted to the Journalism Department of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to pursue a master's degree, and then went to study abroad; while Zhang Lei, an adolescent academic scumbag, was not admitted because he was 1 point behind. Entered middle school.
In 1989, Zhang Lei, a scumbag who was already in his second year of high school, finally woke up and started studying hard. In the same year, Shen Nanpeng graduated from Jiaotong University and went to Yale University to study for a master's degree. In 1990, 18-year-old Zhang Lei was admitted to the International Finance Department of Renmin University as the top scholar in Henan Province. After working at Minmetals for five years, Zhang Lei also went to Yale University to study for a master's degree.
Xiong Xiaoge graduated from Hunan University and then studied in Boston. He is a romantic and idealist. Zhang Lei graduated from the National People's Congress and went from being a poor student to becoming the liberal arts champion in Henan. He later studied at Yale and had the experience of setting up a stall to make money at a very young age. Shen Nanpeng is a "mediocre little math genius" who transferred from Columbia's Department of Mathematics to Yale University to study for an MBA. However, he is modest and gentle and makes inspirational quotes: "Chinese people often mistake proficiency for genius."
The three investors came to the same end but took different paths, with different personalities and styles.
In 1991, Xiong Xiaoge joined IDG. In 1993, McGovern, the founder of IDG in the United States, believed that this young man with firm eyes could open up a new world, so he gave him 20 million: "Go ahead and invest. It doesn't matter if there is no return. Don't worry, the road is right and the people are right." , Let’s do it slowly.” With McGovern’s support, Xiong Xiaoge cooperated with the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission on behalf of IDG to establish China’s first venture capital company.
"iAsk People" (iask-media.com) believes that although "Chinese venture capital" was not favored by the outside world in the early days, the social trend is a torrent. In China's PC era, IDG Capital single-handedly opened up the wilderness and invested in almost half of the Internet industry. In addition to the "PC King" Baidu, there are also Tencent, Sohu, Xiaomi, Meitu and other projects. Nowadays, most of the Behind most star Internet companies, there is the shadow of IDG Capital.
Tang Ning, founder of CreditEase, once said: "In China, IDG Capital has been a lighthouse and a benchmark for the past 20 years."
The lighthouse leads the venture capital circle in the red ocean year. . In 2005, top foreign investment institutions collectively entered China, which the industry called "the wolf is coming". Also coming are Hillhouse Capital, founded by Zhang Lei, and Sequoia China, co-founded by Shen Nanpeng and Sequoia Global.
Zhang Lei, the prodigal son, has a formidable future. Shen Nanpeng, who became a monk halfway, is young and promising. Top foreign investment institutions are popping up everywhere. China's venture capital circle has officially entered the 2.0 era.
Anyone who knows the industry knows that Shen Nanpeng mainly invests in track investments, such as holding shares in Meituan, Ele.me, Douyin and Kuaishou; Zhang Lei mainly focuses on value investment. As long as the company meets the requirements of value investment, Zhang Lei will invest no matter how long the time period is, such as investing US$300 million in JD.com, spending tens of billions to privatize Belle Shoes, etc.
Xiong Xiaoge’s investment under the new trend mainly depends on people.
Although "talking about feelings hurts money", Xiong Xiaoge thinks it is not the case: "I think feelings and business are not contradictory. It's just that when evaluating projects, we must do a good job of the market and the product. Rational analysis and judgment."
Compared with the situation assessment and stock market skills, the unrestrained and romantic "sentiment person" Xiong Xiaoge is not in the same circle as the rational and realistic "philosopher" Zhang Lei. Zhang Lei firmly believes in the three fires, three philosophies, and seven formulas based on logical analysis, and the IDG investment team based on emotion is better at seizing more opportunities derived from invested companies.
At the end of 1995, Zhang Chaoyang planned to return to China from the United States. At a friend's gathering before leaving, Xiong Xiaoge sang "Send Off Comrades" for him with tears in his eyes. In 1998, when Sohu was most short of money, IDG Capital, Intel, Dow Jones, and Morningside Capital invested US$2.2 million in Sohu.
In 2000, OICQ encountered a financial bottleneck. Even if Ma Huateng turned into a women's clothing boss and chatted online, it was difficult to save the decline. He even tried to sell it several times, until Xiong Xiaoge, who had a large amount of US dollars in his hands, "God came" and Only after a long drought comes dew.
Baidu, which has completed its first round of financing, is in the "weaning period", and Robin Li is anxiously looking for Series A financing. After it was clear that "Baidu wanted to be the world's number one Chinese search engine surpassing Google China", IDG accompanied it all the way for the next 20 years.
This idea is also reflected in the support for Ji Qi, a serial entrepreneur. From 1999 to 2005, Ji Qi participated in the founding of Ctrip, Homeinns, and Hanting, all of which received strong support from IDG Capital and entered in the seed round or angel round. During the 2008 financial crisis, IDG Capital even supported Ji Qi and made additional investments. Later, Ji Qi described this support as providing timely help.
Xiong Xiaoge really has a good eye for seeing people, and he has both big devils and little devils in his ace. IDG statistics show that the first fund started in 1993 and had an average annual return of 36% until 2003; the second fund started in 1999 and had a return of more than 40%. By the end of 2006, IDG* ** Invest less than US$200 million in China and get a return of more than US$1 billion.
However, although BAT captured two companies, IDG Capital missed out on the most important Alibaba.
Xiong Xiaoge’s “rules of looking at people” have certain drawbacks. It is not difficult to find from the investment cases that IDG Capital prefers entrepreneurs who are serial entrepreneurs, have backgrounds in prestigious overseas schools, or have served as senior executives in successful companies. It especially prefers serial entrepreneurs with successful experiences. However, Jack Ma does not possess any of the above seemingly correct dogmas.
Jack Ma’s grassroots temperament and weird ideas are incompatible with the inertial thinking of American “elites.” After that, IDG Capital also despised Liu Qiangdong, the "Zhongguancun loser".
Taking 2010 as a watershed, with the rise of Hillhouse Capital in the past 10 years, China’s venture capital circle has slowly entered the 3.0 era. However, Xiong Xiaoge, who should have been dubbed the "Godfather of the Venture Capital Circle", has become increasingly low-key.
Talking about "Ali's regret", Xiong Xiaoge was very frank: "I have always said that investment itself is a regrettable industry." But he also firmly believes that there will always be opportunities in investment: "I have just entered the industry. At that time, the most powerful company was not Microsoft or Apple, but Motorola. ”
Xiong Xiaoge had high expectations for Baofeng Technology. From October 2006 to the end of 2008, IDG Capital invested under its subsidiaries. Early-stage funds and growth funds invested three rounds of U.S. dollar funds in Baofeng Technology. In the A-share market in 2015, Baofeng Technology set off a trend of Chinese concept stocks splitting VIEs and returning to A-shares with 37 daily limits and a price-earning ratio of hundreds of times.
In 2011, Baofeng Technology dismantled the VIE structure, the US dollar fund exited, and the RMB fund Harmony Growth Fund managed by IDG Capital entered. After more than 2 years of IPO suspension and waiting, it successfully landed on the A-share market in March 2015. GEM. After Baofeng Technology was listed, the company's stock price reached its highest value of 327.01 yuan per share, reaching a valuation of 36 billion yuan.
In January 2016, Hollywood Legendary Pictures was acquired by Dalian Wanda Group for US$3.5 billion. Legendary Hollywood has created iconic Hollywood heroes such as Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Captain Marvel, and Green Arrow. This turned out to be a project invested by IDG Capital five years ago. At that time, Legendary Pictures had less than 30 people, but it generated more box office revenue in a year than China Film and Shanghai Film Studio combined. IDG enters the scene in a low-key manner and leaves the circle in a high-profile manner.
It is worth mentioning that in early 2017, "IDG Capital acquired IDG" staged a legendary brand transfer of "the son swallows the mother". After the acquisition was completed, China Oceanwide became the controlling shareholder of IDG's operating business, with a shareholding ratio of 90%, and IDG Capital held 10%; IDG Capital became the controlling shareholder of IDG Ventures' investment business, with a shareholding ratio of 60%, and China Oceanwide held 60%. 40% of shares.
For a time, Xiong Xiaoge "reciprocated" his mentor McGovern and swept across all directions, and IDG Capital "occupied the magpie's nest" to conquer the world.
Xiong Xiaoge returns to Nasdaq with fuller wings. In 2017, new car-making forces came fiercely. Compared with Weilai, which was the first to invest, Xpeng Automobile is more like a "son." In December 2017, IDG Capital began to invest in Xpeng Motors from the A round, and continued to invest in the B and C rounds. The shareholding ratio is only lower than that of founder He Xiaopeng and strategic investor Alibaba, making it the largest shareholder of Xpeng Motors. financial investors. In August 2020, Xpeng Motors was successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange. As of the close of trading, Xpeng Motors' share price closed at US$21.22, with a market value of US$15 billion.
"iAsk People" (iask-media.com) learned that in addition, IDG Capital has been quietly laying out the chip and semiconductor territory for 18 years: from VeriSilicon, Amlogic ), Hengxuan Technology, and then to the world's leading communication chip company RDA (in 2018, Unisoc Group's Spreadtrum and RDA officially completed the integration and were renamed Unisoc Zhanrui); Xiong Xiaoge relied on his feelings and interests Investing in a piece of entertainment territory: Zhang Yimou's "Hawthorn Tree Love" and "The Great Wall", and Impression Company has spent 350 million yuan to create "Impression·Lijiang" and other large-scale live performances, and IDG Capital has participated in the investment of 87 million yuan.
As of 2020, IDG Capital has grown from US$20 million in cash to an investment giant with more than 900 invested companies, of which more than 200 have been successfully listed or completed mergers and acquisitions.
Over the past 24 years, although there are many regrets, mistakes, or potential stocks that have not been revealed yet, venture capital itself is gambling, and there are bound to be temporary gains and losses under long-termism. The stock god Buffett also encountered the "Waterloo of 2020" with a huge loss of US$10 billion. Masayoshi Son, who invested in Alibaba, also mistakenly believed in the crazy Adam Neumann.
"iAsk People" (iask-media.com) believes that the question "Who is the No. 1 in the industry" is really unnecessary, whether it is Zhang Lei's "long-termism" or Shen Nanpeng's " "Bet on the track", or Xiong Xiaoge's "law of feelings", the three of them ended up in the same way, but they also ended up in the same place.
Time flies, time flies, the industry has been reshuffled countless times, capital has changed rapidly, and Xiong Xiaoge has become more and more calm:
"I feel very boring when talking about BAT now, 15 It happened years ago.”
“Every generation of entrepreneurs has opportunities. Don’t think of BAT as three mountains that can never be overcome. There is always an opportunity to invest in the next BAT-level enterprise.
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