Our $445M Series D

In the spring, we hit a pretty wild milestone: Oxide paid income tax. And not because of some unusual transaction or one-time event, but because our ordinary operations (selling computers!) generated taxable income after accounting for the costs of components, manufacturing, salaries, and running the rest of the business.

今年春天，我们达成了一个相当疯狂的里程碑：Oxide 缴纳了所得税。这并非因为任何异常交易或一次性事件，而是因为我们的日常运营（销售计算机！）在扣除组件、制造、工资以及其他业务运营成本后，产生了应纳税所得额。

Of course, we each individually pay income tax every year; is it that surprising that a company is doing what we all do every spring?

当然，我们每个人每年都要缴纳个人所得税；那么一家公司做我们每年春天都在做的事情，又有什么好惊讶的呢？

Well, yes, it is: most startups don’t pay income tax because most startups aren’t profitable! Indeed, startups seek investment because they have costs long before they have revenue, let alone gross profit — let alone income. This is by design: profitability is a lagging indicator of product/market fit (the adventure in venture capital is investing long before the business has materialized!).

嗯，确实令人惊讶：大多数初创公司不缴纳所得税，因为大多数初创公司根本不盈利！事实上，初创公司寻求投资是因为它们在有收入之前很久就有成本了，更不用说毛利，甚至净利润了。这是刻意为之的：盈利能力是产品与市场契合度的滞后指标（风险投资的冒险之处就在于在业务成型之前很久就进行投资！）。

So this was a big milestone, and on top of that (and contrary to Russ Hanneman’s admonition!), we have a very large order backlog. On the one hand, it’s truly extraordinary to watch the business generate cash, but with demand far exceeding supply, significant cash is needed to secure inventory and fulfill these orders. This is one of the peculiar dynamics of a rapidly growing hardware business: we must commit substantial cash to components and manufacturing well before the resulting systems reach customers.

因此，这是一个重要的里程碑。除此之外（与 Russ Hanneman 的告诫相反！），我们还有大量的订单积压。一方面，看到业务产生现金确实非同寻常，但由于需求远超供应，我们需要大量现金来确保库存并完成这些订单。这是快速增长的硬件业务的独特动态之一：在最终系统交付给客户之前，我们必须投入大量现金用于组件和制造。

Now, between our Series B, Series C, our existing debt facilities, and the cash generated by the business itself, we felt confident we could satisfy our current backlog, but the absolute numbers are large enough that we would have had to exercise real caution in accepting additional demand. We are, after all, children of the Dot Com bust — cautious by nature — and would not put the business in a position where new supply disruptions, economic shocks, or other events outside our control could jeopardize it.

现在，凭借我们的 B 轮融资、C 轮融资、现有的债务工具以及业务本身产生的现金，我们有信心满足当前的积压订单，但绝对数字已经大到我们需要在接受额外需求时保持真正的谨慎。毕竟，我们是互联网泡沫破裂后的产物，天生谨慎，我们绝不会让公司处于一种可能因新的供应中断、经济冲击或其他我们无法控制的事件而陷入危机的境地。

Fortunately, this is the problem that capital is born to solve. Our investors saw this too: they have been extraordinary believers in Oxide from the beginning, and, thrilled by the burgeoning demand, they wanted to be sure that we were properly positioned to fully take advantage of Oxide’s large market.

幸运的是，这正是资本天生要解决的问题。我们的投资者也看到了这一点：他们从一开始就对 Oxide 抱有非凡的信念，并且对日益增长的需求感到兴奋，他们希望确保我们处于有利地位，以充分利用 Oxide 的广阔市场。

As they have so many times for us over the seven years of the company, Eclipse stood up to lead, and our $445M Series D quickly came together. Existing investors USIT, Riot Ventures, and Jane Street signed up for big pieces — and others on the cap table including Friends and Family Capital and Counterpart eagerly joined in.

正如公司成立七年来多次为我们所做的那样，Eclipse 挺身而出领投，我们的 4.45 亿美元 D 轮融资很快就完成了。现有投资者 USIT、Riot Ventures 和 Jane Street 认购了大部分份额，资本结构表上的其他投资者，包括 Friends and Family Capital 和 Counterpart，也踊跃参与。

We are deeply appreciative of the support of these existing investors, but we also wanted to add new investors to the company. While there was a lot of outside interest (profitability being the ultimate VC aphrodisiac!), there was one firm that stood above the rest: Atreides Management, which first got to know us nearly two years ago and has stayed close to the company ever since. We love their analytical approach, their courage in hard-tech investing — and their belief in Oxide.

我们非常感谢这些现有投资者的支持，但我们也希望为公司引入新的投资者。虽然外界兴趣浓厚（盈利能力是风险投资者的终极春药！），但有一家公司脱颖而出：Atreides Management。他们在大约两年前首次了解我们，此后一直与公司保持密切联系。我们喜欢他们的分析方法、他们在硬科技投资方面的勇气，以及他们对 Oxide 的信念。

Finally, we are thrilled to welcome AMD as a new strategic investor. AMD has long been a believer in Oxide: it was with their support that we were able to achieve breakthroughs like our own platform enablement software. And of course, we have been big believers in AMD: one of our first big bets was on AMD EPYC. We think the partnership between AMD and Oxide is a lasting one, and it’s fitting to have that expressed in the cap table.

最后，我们很高兴欢迎 AMD 成为新的战略投资者。AMD 长期以来一直相信 Oxide：正是有了他们的支持，我们才得以实现诸如我们自己的平台启用软件之类的突破。当然，我们也一直非常看好 AMD：我们最初的重大赌注之一就是 AMD EPYC。我们认为 AMD 与 Oxide 之间的合作是持久的，在资本结构表中体现这一点非常合适。

All of these investors are — like us — in it for the long haul. When we raised our $200M Series C, we said that it was to entirely de-risk the company with respect to capital, to assure both our longevity and our independence. This Series D builds on that assurance to allow us to satisfy our substantial backlog while continuing to accept new demand, expand manufacturing capacity, and invest for the enduring company that we have always set out to build.

所有这些投资者都和我们一样，着眼于长远。当我们筹集 2 亿美元的 C 轮融资时，我们曾表示这是为了在资本方面彻底降低公司风险，以确保我们的长久生存和独立性。本轮 D 轮融资在此基础上进一步巩固，使我们能够在满足大量积压订单的同时，继续接受新需求、扩大制造能力，并为我们一直致力于打造的持久型公司进行投资。

To our investors, partners, fans, long-time listeners, employees, and most of all customers: thank you. While this is but a milestone on the long road to what we know Oxide will be, it is nonetheless an exhilarating one!

感谢我们的投资者、合作伙伴、粉丝、长期听众、员工，最重要的是，感谢我们的客户。虽然这只是通往我们所预见的 Oxide 未来之路上的一个里程碑，但它依然令人振奋！