SoftBank is a venture capital company that has the stated mission of investing in late-stage technology start-ups that will revolutionize the future.The company has stated that it believes that in order for for its investment companies to make long-term meaningful impacts, they need to be patient and have scaleable vision. At its inception in 2017, it was nearly a $100 billion fund.
SoftBank Vision Fund invests in a variety of industries such as consumer, enterprise, financial technology, frontier technology, health technology, real estate, and transportation and logistics.Other industries in which the company invests include artificial intelligence, Internet of things, robotics, cloud technologies, and more.
The first SoftBank Vision Fund was started in 2017 and was backed by investors such as Apple and Foxconn as well as sovereign wealth funds from nations such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The venture capital company invested heavily in start-ups that fill a need for society. Most of the company's investments in Silicon Valley have been more than $100 million dollars. Companies that SoftBank Vision Fund has invested in include Uber and DoorDash. SoftBank Vision Fund also invests in Asian start-ups, such as Grab, a ride-hailing platform.
In 2019, the company announced that it was launching a second fund. The stated focus of this fund is investing in start-ups that are designing and producing "next-generation enterprise technology" using artificial intelligence. Founder Masayoshi Son has stated that artificial intelligence will alter industries such as healthcare, corporate business models, and transportation. The company itself has invested $38 billion into the fund and combining that contribution with other investors' assets would bring the fund to $108 billion. SoftBank Vision Fund is using the profits from the first fund along with other company assets to make its contribution. Several investors from the original fund have invested in the second fund and companies such as Goldman Sachs and Standard Charter have also been confirmed as investors. Kazakhstan has joined the fund with its sovereign wealth fund and there has been no word on the involvement of Saudi Arabia in this fund.
Timeline
SoftBank establishes its second vision fund at a value of $108 billion.
The company launches its first vision fun with $100 billion from investors.
Funded Companies
Chinese AI is a company developing face recognition technology.
Flexport is a licensed freight forwarder and shipping company based in San Francisco, CA, USA. They manage global logistics for businesses.
Uber Technologies Inc. is a transportation network company (TNC) headquartered in San Francisco, California.
A platform in New York that focuses on providing office space, mail and package handling, conference rooms, weekly events, high-speed internet and community networking to customers.
OpenDoor is a San Francisco-based real estate technology company offering virtual and streamlined real estate buying and selling founded in 2014 by Keith Rabois, Eric Wu, JD Ross and Ian Wong.
A company with a car-sharing platform and hardware. It was founded in 2009 and is located in San Francisco, California.
A company that has created software so that restaurants can manage their online orders. It was founded in 2017 and is located in Los Angeles, California.
Compass is a real estate technology company providing real estate listing application for buying, selling and renting properties.
A biotechnology and software company offering prescription digital therapeutics.
Standard Cognition is a software company creating autonomous checkout systems for brick-and-mortar establishments.
Grab is a technology company providing a ride-hailing platform for booking service for taxis, private cars and motorbikes through a mobile device.
Roivant Sciences is a pharmaceutical company founded by Vivek Ramaswarmy. It focuses on the discovery and development of late-stage drug candidates.
ShipBob is a company offering logistics services to small to mid sized businesses.
Zume Pizza is a food delivery company operating an automated pizza delivery platform. It offers pizza without artificial flavors or high fructose corn syrup.
Relay Therapeutics is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based developer of an allosteric drug-discover platform intended to apply computational techniques to protein motion.
OakNorth is a financial technology company that enables entrepreneurs access customized mid-sized loans.
Konfio is a Mexico City-based online financial services platform offering small and medium businesses find access to working capital credit and loans.
goPuff is a company offering at-home delivery of over-the-counter medication, food, household supplies, beverages, and more.
Automation Anywhere is a company developing cognitive Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software.
Rappi is a delivery service company operating in Latin American countries.
Karius is a Redwood City, California-based diagnostics company offering blood-based genomic tests founded by Sivan Bercovici.
Nuro is a company that develops self-driving vehicles designed for local goods transportation.
People
Masayoshi Son
Founder and CEO
Rajeev Misra
CEO, SoftBank Investment Advisers
Ron Fisher
Vice Chairman SoftBank Group Corp
Further reading
Masayoshi Son blasts critics who 'don't understand' AI's potential
Staff Writer
Web
July 27, 2019
SoftBank is reportedly on the brink of revealing the sequel to its $100 billion Vision Fund
Daniel Strauss
Web
July 23, 2019
SoftBank's Vision Fund is preparing to invest $1 billion in Grab
Jon Russell
Web
SoftBank's Vision Fund is the biggest technology investment portfolio ever. This is where its billions have gone so far.
Rani Molla
Web
September 18, 2017
Documentaries, videos and podcasts
SoftBank Investors Explain the Mega-Fund's Aggressive Investment Strategy
July 17, 2018
We expect Vision Fund to invest in 70 to 100 companies, says SoftBank director
February 26, 2018
Companies
Wag
Hilary Schneider
References
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