Two Acquisitions Completed, Six Companies Strategically Upgraded: Lianjia Pushes Into Franchise New Track | Code Club Magazine · February
Four years since Source Code Capital's founding, the many portfolio companies in its ecosystem have grown into a thriving forest — and the "Code Club" has become a platform where its LPs, partners, and entrepreneurs connect. *Code Club Chronicles* is where we record our friends' incremental progress, share in the joy of their growth, and look toward an even brighter future.
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Nearly four years since Source Code Capital's founding, our family of portfolio companies has grown into a thriving forest. The Code Society has become a platform where our LPs, partners, and entrepreneurs exchange ideas. Code Society Chronicle records our friends' progress, shares the joy of growth, and looks toward an even brighter future.
February
Code
Society
Chronicle
Briefing
"Financing"
Meituan co-invests in India's largest food delivery platform Swiggy
Toutiao completes acquisition of camera app Faceu
"Upgrades"
Meituan secures insurance brokerage license
will pursue multiple partnerships with industry players
Lianjia opens franchise business to small and medium agencies
plans 5,000 stores in three years
CHJ Automotive reveals partial specs of mid-large SUV
expected 2018 launch, 2019 delivery
Pagoda partners with Ergeng on heartwarming video
"Bring the Good Taste Home" becomes hot topic in Spring Festival marketing
Hui Fenqi opens Huiguanfang apartment management SaaS platform
Asset360 launches intelligent collection robot "Xiao Dao"
"Quotes"
Yu Huiyong: Large-scale chain models invariably require integrating resources across society
Xiong Lin: Believe in time, believe in what's right
Luo Min: Let every young person enjoy fairness
Lin Enmin: Inclusive financial services are an eternal theme
Yang Xingyun: Make logistics smarter, make connections more efficient
"Honors"
Toutiao named to Fast Company's 2018 World's Most Innovative Companies list
1
Milestone
Meituan co-invests in India's largest
food delivery platform Swiggy
On February 8, Swiggy, India's largest food delivery platform, completed a $100 million funding round led by international investor Naspers, with Meituan as a co-investor. This marks Meituan's second overseas investment. On January 18, Meituan had just completed a $50 million investment in Go-Jek, Indonesia's largest internet technology platform.
Shaohui Chen, Senior Vice President of Meituan's Strategy and Investment Platform, stated, "As a global leader in local services e-commerce, Meituan actively explores globalization opportunities in response to China's Belt and Road Initiative. By partnering with outstanding local teams and exporting China's advanced experience, we bring the best local services experience to internet users in emerging markets. We are extending Meituan's mission of 'We help people eat better, live better' to a global scale."
2
Toutiao completes acquisition of camera app
Faceu
On February 18, 36Kr learned that Toutiao had completed the acquisition of camera app Faceu for approximately $300 million. Following the acquisition, Faceu secured title sponsorships for regional Spring Festival galas on Zhejiang, Dragon TV, Beijing, and Jiangsu satellite channels — originally, Volcano Engine was to sponsor Dragon TV and Jiangsu TV, while Douyin would sponsor Zhejiang TV, but Toutiao transferred these advertising rights to its newly acquired Faceu, making the app the biggest winner in TV channel promotion during the Year of the Dog. Since its launch in January 2016, Faceu has consistently ranked near the top of the App Store charts. According to App Annie statistics, Faceu topped the overall iOS rankings for two consecutive months starting December 2016, and maintained the #1 position in the free Photo & Video category for four months.
What's New
1
Meituan secures insurance brokerage license
will pursue multiple partnerships with industry players
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission recently announced its approval for Chongqing Jincheng Hunuo Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd. to operate insurance brokerage business within China's administrative regions (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). Business registration information shows that Jincheng Hunuo Insurance is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tianjin Sankuai Technology, whose sole shareholder is Beijing Sankuai Technology — i.e., Meituan.
Regarding the move into insurance brokerage, Hu Yao, General Manager of Meituan's Insurance Business, explained that the rationale for entering the insurance intermediary field lies in using insurance to address pain points in existing business that the platform alone cannot solve. Meituan will maintain an "open cooperation" approach, pursuing multiple partnerships with various institutions across the industry. Its insurance intermediary business will first focus on service pain points within the group's existing operations, integrating the insurance sector's current products and capabilities with Meituan's business.
2
Lianjia opens franchise business to small and medium agencies
plans 5,000 stores in three years
Lianjia Group announced the launch of its franchise business, with plans to expand to 30 cities nationwide and establish 5,000 stores within three years — equivalent to 62.5% of Lianjia's existing store count (8,000). Lianjia will operate this business under the Deyou brand. Deyou Real Estate was founded in Shanghai and acquired by Lianjia in 2015. The franchise opening is seen as a crucial step in Lianjia's further scale expansion. In 2015, Lianjia had acquired multiple agencies including Deyou Real Estate, achieving rapid national expansion and significant growth in scale.
Lianjia is China's largest real estate brokerage, with GMV exceeding one trillion yuan for two consecutive years in 2016 and 2017, accounting for 10% of the entire industry. Analysts believe that as the era of existing housing stock arrives, Lianjia still has opportunities to continue expanding its market share.
3
CHJ Automotive reveals partial specs of mid-large SUV
expected 2018 launch, 2019 delivery
Recently, Xiang Li, founder & CEO of CHJ Automotive, revealed partial specifications of the company's first mid-large luxury pure electric SUV on his personal social media. The vehicle will officially launch in 2018, with customer deliveries beginning in 2019.
The SUV will exceed 5 meters in length. Based on previously leaked renderings, the vehicle will feature a three-row 7-seat or 6-seat configuration. Its components will come from multiple top-tier international and domestic suppliers. Its battery pack meets GB/T 31485 national standards, with each pack containing 280 18650 cells — every cell's full lifecycle data is monitorable and historically traceable, ensuring safe, efficient, intelligent use and recycling. According to Li's disclosure, the vehicle's NEDC range will exceed 700km, with constant-speed range reaching 1000km.
4
Pagoda partners with Ergeng on heartwarming video
"Bring the Good Taste Home" becomes hot topic in Spring Festival marketing
On February 2, Pagoda and Ergeng simultaneously premiered the heartwarming video "Bring the Good Taste Home." The dual WeChat and Weibo launch by Pagoda and Ergeng, combined with wide distribution across the internet, instantly flooded major online platforms. The video not only sparked active user engagement but also received overwhelming praise, with total views across all platforms approaching 28 million.
On February 3-4, well-known emotional KOL Su Qin, professional media including Guangzhou Daily and Vista, numerous influential Weibo KOLs, and dozens of brand blue-V accounts including JD Daojia and Haier Smart Kitchen joined the "Bring the Good Taste Home" micro-topic. To precisely reach fans in emotional, lifestyle, and regional categories, Pagoda also partnered deeply with WeChat KOLs including Meihao Shenghuo Xiaoguan, Shanghai Toutiao, and Guangzhou Yinxiang to sustain momentum for the video. Meanwhile, Pagoda collaborated with Alipay Koubei on a live Q&A prize event, attracting nearly 200,000 users to share generous prizes. Within just a few days, the micro-topic views instantly surpassed 33 million, total WeChat reads broke 600,000, and viral coverage reached vertical and general users alike, garnering massive exposure and positive reception.
5
Hui Fenqi opens Huiguanfang
apartment management SaaS platform
Following the comprehensive upgrade of its "Finance + SaaS + AI" integrated service platform for the rental housing sector, Hui Fenqi has delivered another powerful move, fully opening traffic channel partnerships to empower apartment operators' marketing. Recently, Hui Fenqi announced opening its Huiguanfang apartment intelligent management SaaS platform to external traffic platforms, providing quality rental information services to traffic platform users through millions of apartment listings.
This opening of Huiguanfang's traffic cooperation not only addresses pain points for partner platform users seeking rentals, but also creates new marketing channels for apartments. Apartment operators can contact Hui Fenqi staff to publish available authentic listings on the Huiguanfang platform; after system review, the apartment listing information will be synchronized to traffic platforms.
Hui Fenqi's products include Hui Fenqi rental installment services, Huizhaofang rental lifestyle platform, and Huiguanfang apartment intelligent management SaaS platform. As a comprehensive service platform for the rental sector, Hui Fenqi deeply understands supply and demand needs in the rental market. By multi-dimensionally empowering apartment operators to improve their comprehensive operational capabilities, it creates more authentic, quality listings and superior services to meet multi-level rental needs of C-end users, helping 300 million renters live better. Through continuous efforts, Hui Fenqi's business now covers 37 cities, serving millions of tenants and nearly 1,000 apartment operators.
6
Asset360 launches intelligent collection robot "Xiao Dao"
Asset360 recently officially released "Xiao Dao," an intelligent collection tool that uses AI decision-making capabilities to address efficiency and compliance issues in the collection and disposal process. Ye Haitao, founder and CEO of Asset360, stated that from its beginnings as an O2O platform to becoming a post-loan disposal service platform, Asset360 has always centered on data + technology. Based on customer needs, the company has continuously increased investment in technological innovation and product R&D in big data applications, intelligent collection, and compliant disposal, providing professional, efficient full-line disposal tools that enhance disposal capabilities, operational management efficiency, and customer experience — achieving intelligence, standardization, and process optimization in the disposal industry. Asset360, which achieved leapfrog development over the past year, is committed to building a new-generation internet financial asset management company.
Asset360 has partnered with iFlytek, a national-level intelligent speech technology provider, to pursue multi-dimensional cooperation in internet, big data, and intelligent speech. The new-generation intelligent collection robot "Xiao Dao" is an intelligent product built on automatic outbound calling technology, with intelligent speech technology and intelligent collection strategy models at its core.
Quote
Yu Huiyong (Pagoda Founder, Chairman)
"We now have nearly 3,000 stores, and our strong control system has matured. Now we're opening to all of society, uniting all forces that can be united, and bringing along many colleagues willing to develop in fruit retail to share the industry's growth dividends. Large-scale chain models invariably require integrating resources across society — the more resources integrated, the faster the evolution, the quicker the market capture, and the higher the efficiency. The development of large-scale chains worldwide has already proven this. Since Pagoda develops through the chain model, we cannot escape this law."
Xiong Lin (Ziroom CEO)
"Over the past six years, Ziroom has won recognition from customers and the market — something every Ziroom person should celebrate. In the future, whether Ziroom becomes respected and beloved depends on two things: first, what kind of enterprise we truly want to be; second, what kind of people Ziroom people are. Going forward, I hope the Ziroom team always believes in eight words: believe in time, believe in what's right. Many things we do today may not be understood by others, but we can ask ourselves: is this thing fundamentally right or not? If it's right, we do it — time will give us the best answer. What makes Ziroom Ziroom? I hope Ziroom people are people with the Ziroom style, people of character, people with values, people who believe in time and believe in what's right."
Luo Min (Qudian CEO)
"I want to share two plans with you today — relevant to everyone here and not here. The first is the Four-Year Growth Plan: let every young person enjoy fairness. Fairness is a very important part of our corporate values. Over the next four years, I hope that post-90s young people can account for over 80% of the company's middle and senior management. The company will invest sufficient resources and energy in developing you, with a series of training and growth plans. This isn't empty talk — you, you, and you here will all become middle and senior management. This is difficult, but as long as you work hard, there's opportunity. The second plan is the Ten-Year Sharing Plan: I hope everyone's efforts receive their due rewards."
Lin Enmin (INK Group Co-founder, President)
"Over the past five years, INK Group's cumulative transaction volume reached approximately 130 billion yuan, making tremendous contributions to inclusive finance. Over the past five years, INK Group has partnered with over 170 traditional financial institutions, a number that will exceed 300 or even 500 by end of 2018. In 2017, INK Group transformed from a wealth-driven company to an asset-driven company. The group's positioning also upgraded from a financial services data platform centered on 'housing' to a data intelligence service platform focused on inclusive financial services. The mission of new finance is to provide people with fair opportunity services that can satisfy their needs for a better life and achieve balanced, sufficient development — that is, inclusive financial services. In the future, what society needs to change are issues of birth, aging, sickness, and death, no longer basic necessities of food, clothing, housing, and transportation. INK Group's wealth side must provide investors with fair opportunity services for high returns; the asset side must provide borrowers with fair opportunity services for lower interest rates. Inclusive financial services are an eternal theme."
Yang Xingyun (Yimi Dida Chairman, President)
"Looking back at 2017, with the help and support of friends from all sectors of society and through the collective efforts of all Yimi Dida people, we completed B and B+ rounds of financing; achieved full self-operation in East China, North China, and South China; expanded our network to 31 provinces and Hong Kong and Taiwan, achieving the阶段性 goal of nationwide freight connectivity; and upgraded our corporate culture to 'Partner Culture,' forging the soul of our company culture. The new year breeds new hope and will surely bring new challenges. In 2018, the company will uphold our corporate mission of 'Make logistics smarter, make connections more efficient,' guided by our core values of 'Integrity and initiative, partner success, learning and innovation, gratitude and sharing, self-criticism,' focusing on product upgrades, operational quality upgrades, and end-service upgrades, striving toward our grand vision of becoming 'customers' preferred comprehensive service platform based on logistics.'"
Honor & Awards
1
Toutiao named to Fast Company
2018 World's Most Innovative Companies list
Recently, renowned global business media Fast Company released its "2018 World's Most Innovative Companies" rankings, with Apple taking top honors. Tencent and ByteDance (Toutiao), as representatives of Chinese tech enterprises, entered the overall Top 20 at #4 and #16 respectively.
The "World's Most Innovative Companies" list is an annual selection by Fast Company honoring the world's most innovative companies. Due to its authority and reference value, it has long been considered a barometer of commercial value and investment trends. This year's overall list was compiled through evaluation and screening of thousands of important global companies by nearly 40 Fast Company editors, reporters, and contributors, covering 36 categories and over 350 companies, ultimately selecting the "Top 50 Most Innovative Companies."
ByteDance, Toutiao's parent company, was recognized by the jury primarily for its innovations in AI technology and information creation, distribution, and exchange: "ByteDance not only uses AI technology to connect people with information, but has also invented intelligent content creation tools that improve content production efficiency. The company also uses 'Toutiao Xunren' to push missing person alerts using advanced technology, helping thousands of users find lost family members."
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Code Society Chronicle · August | Financing, upgrades, and honors
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