In the current era of surging technology, the shared power bank industry has risen rapidly like mushrooms after rain, and Shenzhen Electric Power Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Electric Power Technology") can be regarded as a shining star among them. However, a recent news about the disappearance of the founder of DianDian Technology, like a giant rock thrown into a calm lake, has sparked widespread attention and heated discussions in the industry.
Recently, it was reported in the media that Yuan Bingsong, the founder of Call Technology, mysteriously "disappeared" recently, along with Han Bing, the first-hand receiver of Call Technology, and four other Call Technology related personnel.
As for the reason for the "disappearance", it may be related to the loss of state-owned assets in cooperation with the state-owned assets of Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province. It is reported that the two individuals were previously pursued by a legal team hired by local state-owned assets for suspected loss of state-owned assets.
On the evening of August 18th, Yuan Bingsong posted on his social media account, saying, "Heaven is just, and everything that happens is the best arrangement. To our conscience, we should act with our hearts, not do evil, and Heaven will bless us!" However, this did not completely dispel the doubts of the outside world. After all, there is currently no official confirmation on whether Yuan Bingsong and others are really involved in the loss of state-owned assets.
Looking back on the development of caller ID technology, it is like a magnificent and dramatic business legend.
As one of the earliest companies to enter the shared charging industry, Jidian Technology has received favor and investment from institutions such as SIG, Red Dot China, and Jiuhe Venture Capital in its early stages of development. At its peak, DianDian Technology was once expected to go public through a backdoor listing, but ultimately the transaction was abruptly halted due to the failure of the first-hand buyer Han Bing to fully pay the final payment.
At the end of 2020, the state-owned assets of Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province extended an olive branch to DianDian Technology. Eventually, Pujiang DianDian Zhengqi Technology Co., Ltd., which was the main investor, became a 100% controlling shareholder of DianDian Technology, and DianDian Technology transformed into a state-owned enterprise.
From the initial surge of the trend to the disappearance of the company's founder and related personnel, this process not only reflects the fierce competition and severe challenges faced by the shared power bank industry, but also reveals the complex problems that may arise in capital operation and enterprise development process.
The confusing entry of state-owned assets into the bureau
Yuan Bingsong, known as the soul of electric power technology, founded electric power technology in 2014 and became one of the earliest pioneers in the shared power bank industry. His innovative ideas and business acumen led to the rapid rise of caller ID technology in its early days, shining brightly.
In 2018, Yuan Bingsong transferred 51% of his company's equity to his friend Xiao Fengchi, who then transferred the ownership to Han Bing six months later. The purpose of introducing Han Bing is rumored to be to plan the listing of DianDian Technology, as he has previously worked in the state-owned investment department and is familiar with capital operations.
In 2020, Han Bing attempted to sell DianDian Technology to the listed company Zhongwei Electronics to achieve a backdoor listing, but ultimately terminated the transaction due to Han Bing's failure to pay the remaining balance. At the end of 2020, the holder of 100% equity of DianDian Technology was changed to Pujiang DianDian Zhengqi Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Pujiang DianDian"), which had just been established. The main investor behind it was the state-owned assets of Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province.
At that time, the intervention of state-owned assets in Pujiang County was undoubtedly a significant boost to DianDian Technology, and also demonstrated the local government's support and earnest expectations for innovative enterprises. It is reported that Pujiang Phone was the first project attracted by Pujiang County using the "fund+equity+project" model, which was highly anticipated at the time and aimed directly at going public in the future.
However, the trajectory of fate is not smooth sailing. In 2022, DianDian Technology encountered a large number of lawsuits from suppliers and agents, and Pujiang DianDian's account was frozen. Afterwards, the payee of the power bank for incoming calls quietly changed to Shenzhen Denglai Ge Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Denglai Information"). According to Tianyancha, just like Pujiang caller ID, the legal representative of the caller information is Han Bing, and its sole shareholder is a company registered in Hong Kong - caller ID Hong Kong.
Tianyancha screenshot
According to the information of Hong Kong Registered Easy, the registered capital of the caller in Hong Kong is only HKD 1, and the only director is Yuan Bingsong. Going back, the shareholder who called Hong Kong is LAIDIAN LIMITED (hereinafter referred to as the "Cayman Company") registered in the Cayman Islands. Due to strict confidentiality of company registration information in the Cayman Islands, the equity structure of Cayman companies is unknown. However, there is a circulating "City Partner Shareholding Agreement" in the market, which states that the Cayman company is the overseas holding parent company (VIE structure) of DianDian Technology, and Yuan Bingsong is the shareholder and actual controller of the Cayman company.
So it is difficult to determine whether the actual controller of the incoming call information is Yuan Bingsong based on the existing information. If it is a power bank with hundreds of millions of users, and the payee changes to the caller information, is it suspected of transferring benefits to the already defunct founder Yuan Bingsong?
In fact, when state-owned assets took control of DianDian Technology at that time, it sparked strong questioning from the outside world.
From the perspective of the acquisition background, Pujiang County has paid a huge price for attracting investment and promoting the development of Electric Power Technology. According to media reports, the company offered 600 million yuan with the ultimate goal of going public, but its development did not meet expectations, which raises deep questions about the rationality and necessity of the acquisition.
In the specific operation of the acquisition, many market participants believe that the state-owned assets of Pujiang County have inaccurate or incomplete evaluations of the asset status and market prospects of DianDian Technology, which may lead to the failure to obtain corresponding returns after the investment of state-owned assets in the future, and even face the risk of losses.
What is even more worth pondering is that Yuan Bingsong and Han Bing were once held accountable by a legal team hired by local state-owned assets for their involvement in the loss of state-owned assets.
The turbulent changes in the industry
In fact, the period when caller ID technology frequently engaged in capital operations was also a period of rapid growth for the entire shared charging industry.
According to the website of Zhejiang Securities Regulatory Bureau, in 2020, Xiaodian Technology began to receive listing guidance and sought to be listed on the ChiNext board. Meituan also made its third high-profile foray into the field of shared charging that year, establishing a dedicated team and beginning large-scale recruitment. In April 2021, Monster Charging successfully landed on NASDAQ, raising nearly 1 billion yuan and becoming the first stock in the shared charging industry.
As one of the "industry veterans", Electric Power Technology quickly became a leader in the shared power bank industry from its inception. However, the good times did not last long. With the intensification of industry competition and changes in the market environment, Jidian Technology gradually fell into difficulties. Especially after experiencing multiple rounds of equity changes and management turbulence, the company's operating conditions have deteriorated further.
According to Tianyancha, since 2020, there have been 90 lawsuits filed by DianDian Technology due to contract disputes such as commission, joint venture, labor, and sales, involving plaintiffs such as the co-founder, early agents, suppliers, and employees of DianDian Technology. Among them, this year, there were 27 litigation records related to caller ID technology, most of which were labor disputes and contract disputes.
Meanwhile, in terms of products and services, the improvement of user experience has failed to keep up with the growing demand of consumers, resulting in a decrease in user stickiness and serious customer loss. According to a research report by securities firms, as early as 2020, the market share of caller ID technology had already begun to significantly lag behind monster charging, street power, and small power, with only less than 10%.
Furthermore, in terms of finance, the problem is equally severe. It is understood that high operating costs are a major challenge faced by caller ID technology. Among them, expenses such as equipment procurement, venue leasing, and personnel salaries continue to rise, but revenue growth has not kept up with the pace of cost increase.
The main reason for the above problems is the single profit model of the power bank industry, which mainly relies on the rental income of power banks and lacks diversified profit channels. With the increase of market saturation and the slowdown of user growth, enterprises are facing the challenge of profit growth, and the lack of effective breakthroughs in the business model of DianDian Technology reflects the problem of insufficient innovation in the overall business model of the industry.
The tension in the funding chain is another key issue. Initially, in order to maintain operations and expand, DianDian Technology may have overly relied on debt financing, resulting in high levels of debt. When the business performance is poor, the debt pressure further exacerbates the company's financial difficulties.
The founder's "disappearance" scandal this time is just a concentrated outbreak of this series of problems.
