Recently, it has been reported that Jack Ma indirectly holds a new company - one meter eight marine technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "one meter eight marine technology") equity。The company is believed to be Ma's latest targeted investment move。

The new company executive has the same name as several Ali employees.

Public information shows that one meter eight marine science and technology was established in Hangzhou on July 20, with a registered capital of 1.100 million RMB, covering aquaculture, food sales, cargo transportation, power generation and transmission business, tourism business, catering services, etc.。

Most notably, a group of "Ali" personnel surfaced after the company's equity penetration.。The majority shareholder of this company is 1..8 Meters Technology Holding Limited, 80%。The second largest shareholder with a 10% stake is Hangzhou Daitou No. 22 Culture and Art Co..9%。In addition, one meter eight marine technology also has four natural person shareholders, namely Hu Xiaoming, Deng Zhonghua, Chen Zesong and Lin Zhifeng, the four shareholding ratio of 5.5%, 2.5%, 1% and 1%。The names of the four people are the same as those of Alibaba executives, so the company is considered likely to be Alibaba's new business segment.。

It is reported that Hu Xiaoming, who is the chairman of the board of directors of One Meter Eight Ocean Technology, has the same name as Hu Xiaoming, one of Alibaba's former partners and former CEO of Ant Group.。The company's legal representative, Deng Zhonghua, who also serves as the company's director and general manager, is considered to be the author of the book "Big Data Big Innovation: The Way to Alibaba's Cloud Data Center," and is engaged in big data-related work at Ali.。Lin Zhifeng has the same name as the person in charge of data visualization for Ant Group.。Chen Zesong, or Alibaba's Alibaba Cloud Digital Farm Solutions Product Expert。

Other executives in the One Meter Eight Ocean Technology, such as Ding Ming and Gong Yuping, also share the same name as former Ali employees.。It is understood that the previous investment director of Ant Financial was named Ding Ming, and Alibaba also had a senior HR director named Gong Yuping.。

The stake, made up of so many highly suspected Ali executives and companies owned by Jack Ma, immediately caught the eye。

Ma Yun's New Moves？

After Ma Yun returned to China at the end of March, Ali had a "huge earthquake."。Shortly after Jack Ma returned to China, Alibaba launched a "1 + 6 + N" organizational restructuring, which is considered "the most important organizational change for Alibaba in 24 years."。Zhang Yong, who has been in charge of Alibaba for many years, announced his resignation as chairman of the board of directors and CEO, and dedicated himself to leading Alibaba Cloud.。Cai Chongxin and Wu Yongming took over the positions of Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of the Group respectively.。

In an interview with the media in June, Michael Evans, the current president and executive director of Alibaba Group, said: "Ma Yun now cares about the company as much as he did when he first founded the company."。

According to the spin-off plan, under Alibaba Group, six major business groups and "N" business companies (such as Ali Health, Box Horse, etc.) will be established, including Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, Taobao Tmall Business, International Digital Business, Local Life, Cainiao, and Big Entertainment.。After the group spin-off, Alibaba Cloud, Box Horse, Cainiao, etc. will also seek listing。

This new company is likely to be the new direction of future investment smelled by Jack Ma, a veteran entrepreneur.。Judging from the company's business scope, there is speculation that Jack Ma may be targeting smart agriculture or smart fisheries。

Ma Yun's investment in agriculture-related businesses seems to be showing signs.。After Ma announced his retirement in 2019, there was little news of him online。But last July, the Netherlands Wageningen University (Wageningen Unversity, hereinafter referred to as "WUR") official website released a message that Alibaba founder Jack Ma visited the school for exchanges。WUR said Ma had an in-depth exchange and discussion of new technologies in animal husbandry and fisheries at the school, where scientists shared their insights into the future of sustainable animal husbandry, aquaculture and fisheries.。During the exchange, Ma said that his time and energy will be fully invested in agriculture, including growing crops in the Gobi Desert.。

Publicly known as Wageningen University & Research, WUR is located in Wageningen, the Netherlands, and is the center of Food Valley in the Netherlands.。The school's ecology, agricultural science, life science, food science, environmental science, etc. enjoy a high reputation in the world, is recognized as the world's top agricultural and environmental science research institutions。According to WUR's official website, the school had previously partnered with another Chinese Internet giant, Tencent。

In addition to visiting WUR, Ma also visited the Institute of Aquaculture at Kinki University in Japan during his retirement to inspect aquaculture fishery technology。

Will move from the sales side to the production side？

Alibaba has been exploring agriculture-related businesses for years。Alibaba's local life business and box horse are both related to the sales of agricultural products and fresh food.。

Fresh supermarket box horse has developed well in recent years, after the spin-off is about to hit the market.。And Alibaba's local life business development momentum may be slightly inferior to the box horse。This may be related to the previous criticism of community group buying.。In 2020, China's major Internet companies began to intensively develop community group buying business, but as this business grew, it came under increasing criticism.。Many people believe that community group buying uses low prices to attract customers to seize market share, which squeezes the living space of ordinary farmers and vegetable vendors.。

At a time when public opinion is growing, the People's Daily has come forward to comment on related events。The article commented that the Internet giants, which hold massive amounts of data and advanced algorithms, should have more responsibility, more pursuit and more action in technological innovation.。Don't just think about the flow of a few bundles of cabbage, a few pounds of fruit, the sea of stars of scientific and technological innovation, the infinite possibilities of the future, in fact, more exciting。Subsequently, the community group purchase from the "crazy period" began to gradually cool down, return to rationality。

Whether it's a box horse or a community group purchase, it's still essentially about terminal sales.。Now, Ma seems to be targeting the agricultural production side.。And backed by Ali, one meter eight ocean technology from birth to win at the starting line。

Currently, Alibaba Cloud has a digital agriculture solution。According to the official website, the solution provides farm information digitization, park management collaboration, agricultural meteorological services, blockchain traceability services, production and marketing docking, Ali ecological capacity integration and other services.。The official website claims that the solution "through the Internet of Things perception technology, the farmland, crops, environment and other information for a comprehensive perception and interconnection, with big data intensive farming, improve agricultural efficiency, help agricultural production scale, digital, standardized development process."。"

And from the introduction of the official website, combined with the business scope of 1.8 meters of marine technology, the new company in the future may be a part of Alibaba Cloud's digital agriculture solutions, or will be embedded in the "AloT digital farm," "digital agriculture engine," "farmland infrastructure" and other sectors.。