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SoftBank approves $40 million for second Vision Fund

SoftBank's gearing up for Vision Fund 2 with $108 billion and big name investors
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Francis Scialabba

less than 3 min read

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SoftBank finalized deals with over ten investors to raise about $70 billion for its second Vision Fund, Nikkei reports. The company also plans to inject $38 billion of its own money, bringing Vision Fund 2's total tally to $108 billion—and that could grow.

Of course, that's all on top of the Japanese conglomerate's Vision Fund 1, a $100 billion tech megafund that shows you can be both loved (by founders) and feared (by rival VCs).

Part Deux

With the Justice Department expected to soon approve SoftBank's sale of Sprint to T-Mobile, the company will have money freed up to sink into Vision Fund 2. Goldman Sachs, Standard Charter, Apple, Mizuho, Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund, and Taiwanese financial institutions will also invest in the fund. Gulf countries and Microsoft are also interested, sources told the WSJ.

The SoftBank philosophy: The more open floor plans, the better. SoftBank encourages partnerships and cooperation among its portfolio companies, hoping to eventually bundle products together into a superapp of services. For investors, this mentality also seems to apply:

  • Goldman wants to underwrite the IPOs of SoftBank-backed startups.
  • Standard Charter wants to lend to them.
  • Microsoft could sell them Azure cloud services.

It's all part of Masa's vision

From microsatellites to internet balloons, SoftBank has put up big yen to promote the techno-utopian ideals of chief Masayoshi Son. It acquired chip designer ARM in 2016 for $31.4 billion, one of Europe's largest-ever tech deals. It's poured billions into automation, robotics, smart devices, and software startups. And it's spread $60 billion across more than 40 mobility-focused companies.

Next steps

With Vision Fund 2, SoftBank is playing a bit of financial jiu-jitsu. It wants cash to keep the megadeals coming but needs to pay out returns to Vision Fund 1 investors. Masa doesn't seem worried...he's got votes of confidence from the boardroom and at least two big U.S. investors.

+ Pulse check: In the 141 days of Emerging Tech Brew's young life, 43% of the newsletters mentioned SoftBank. Guess that's what happens when you're doling out $100 million or more to emerging tech-focused companies every other week…

Keep up with the innovative tech transforming business

Tech Brew keeps business leaders up-to-date on the latest innovations, automation advances, policy shifts, and more, so they can make informed decisions about tech.

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