Can the SoftBank Vision Fund II be Equally Bigger?
SoftBank Group Corp chief executive Masayoshi Son said on Tuesday a second Vision Fund would be set up in the near future, with funds from investors in the first fund or from institutional investors.
"Vision Fund 2 will definitely come," Son told in a conference in Tokyo. He said the fund would not be launched in the next six months but would be "in the near future". Son did not disclose the size of the new fund but it is likely to be similar in size to the almost $100 billion that was raised for the first Vision Fund, according to Bloomberg report.
Institutional investors are also showing interest, Son added.
The Vision Fund is the world’s largest private equity fund, attracted more than $93 billion, as of last May, currently investing in companies employing emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and connected devices with a ticket size between $100M-$500M.
After invested over $6B with in the past 1 year in Indian companies like Flipkart ($2.5B), Paytm ($1.4B), Ola ($2B) & OYO ($250M), Softbank has now held early discussions to invest more in Paytm Mall and is also eyeing to fuel PolicyBazaar with nearly $200M (Rs 1300 Cr). SoftBank, which in April announced a $400 million investment in Paytm Mall for a 21% stake, has since held talks to invest as much as $3 billion in the company.
Also, SoftBank Chief Masayoshi Son has recently confirmed that the Japanese conglomerate has arrived at an agreement to sell its 20% stake in Indian ecommerce major Flipkart to US retail giant Walmart; the latter acquired the country’s biggest online player in worth $16 billion.
