SoftBank founder, chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son.
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SoftBank stunned the venture capital world with its launch of the $100 billion Vision Fund in 2017 and its wide-ranging and aggressive investments. Now billionaire Masayoshi Son has announced an even larger fund with $108 billion to invest in artificial intelligence companies.
Announced on Thursday, the “SoftBank Vision Fund 2” will be the biggest tech fund in the world if it comes to fruition. “The objective of the Fund is to facilitate the continued acceleration of the AI revolution through investment in market-leading, tech-enabled growth companies,” SoftBank Group wrote in a filing with the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
SoftBank has upped its own stake in the new fund to $38 billion from the $25 billion in the original fund and has tapped leading tech companies like Apple, Microsoft and Foxconn, along with Japanese investment investment banks and Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund.
SoftBank Vision Fund 2
SoftBank
One noticeable omission from the second fund is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which pumped $45 billion into the first Vision Fund. SoftBank has faced criticism over its ties with Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman following the grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
However, SoftBank said discussions are ongoing with additional participants, so it’s possible Saudi Arabia will still participate in the second fund, while the total money raised may top $108 billion.
SoftBank used the first fund to make aggressive billion dollar investments into an eclectic range of technology companies around the world leading to some questioning the rational of the legendary investor and SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son. Uber, DoorDash, and WeWork have all been backed by the fund, European startups Improbable in the U.K. and travel booking website GetYourGuide in Germany.
The SoftBank Vision Fund, run out of an office in London’s exclusive Mayfair neighbourhood, is led by Son and Rajeev Misra, a banker who previously worked at UBS, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch.
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I’m a Staff Writer covering tech in Europe. Previously, I was a News Editor for Business Insider Australia, and prior to that I was a Senior Technology Reporter for Business Insider UK. My writing has also appeared in The Financial Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Wired, The Independent, and elsewhere. I have also appeared on the BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera, Channel 5, Reuters TV, and spoken on Russia Today and Shares Radio. In 2015, I was shortlisted for Technology Journalist of the Year by the UK Tech Awards and in 2016 I was nominated as one of the 30 young journalists to watch by MHP Communications.
Source: SoftBank Launches New $108 Billion Vision Fund To Invest in AI