SoftBank Vision Fund 2 in the works, will be announced soon
Slightly over a month ago, SoftBank was reportedly facing challenges in raising investments for Vision Fund 2. Now it is in talks with investors and will soon be announcing the sequel to the $100 billion Fund that revolutionised start-up investment space.
SoftBank’s board members are set to meet today to finalise the investment of $40 billion in the tech-focused mega fund, up from the $28 billion it invested in the debut Vision Fund.
SoftBank is in talks with Microsoft to attract investment from them, and will reportedly encourage its portfolio of 75 companies to switch from Amazon Web Services to Microsoft’s Azure.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the UAE’s Mubadala are expected to be returning investors.
SoftBank and its $100 billion Vision Fund has been a game changer in the startup investment ecosystem. Focused on tech startups that have shown some traction, the Fund has deployed $80 billion till date, in the likes of Uber, Didi Chuxing, WeWork, DoorDash, Slack, Ola and more.
Just over a month ago, SoftBank was reportedly facing challenges in pulling existing investors for its Vision Fund sequel. However, now it is reportedly on the brink of announcing the first phase of its second Vision Fund.
SoftBank will also be reportedly injecting $40 billion in the next Vision Fund and is set to meet its board members today to finalise the investment.
Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered are amongst the first confirmed investors in Vision Fund 2.
Amongst its first confirmed investors, as reported by TechCrunch, are Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered.
SoftBank is also in talks with Microsoft to have them come aboard their Vision Fund 2, under the condition that it will encourage its portfolio of 75 companies to migrate from Amazon Web Services to Microsoft’s Azure, a cloud services platform, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The largest investors in SoftBank’s first Vision Fund of $100 billion is Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, who invested $45 billion. They are expected to be returning investors from their earlier suggestion of investing the same amount in the second fund.
Mubadala Investment Company based in Abu Dhabi is also expected to be a returning investor in the new investment vehicle.
SoftBank and its $100 billion Vision Fund, the world’s largest technology investor, have massively disrupted start-up investment. For comparison, according to Pitchbook data, the total funds venture capitalists in the U.S. raised totalled $53.9 billion from 200 funds in 2018.
Arab News earlier reported that the Vision Fund 2 is “expected to at least equal the original fund’s $97 billion fund, and could reach $150 billion.” This would make the sequel the largest fund ever raised in the history of private investment.
As per Bloomberg report, the announcement of the second fund could come in just a few days. Considering SoftBank’s board members are meeting today to finalise the $40 billion investment, this could come very soon.
Masayoshi Son, the founder of SoftBank said earlier in June that the Vision Fund had generated a return of 62% from $64.2 billion investment in 71 companies. This could play a major role in attracting more investors to the mega-fund sequel.
From what we have seen of the first $100 billion Vision Fund, the next one is expected to further strengthen the global investment ecosystem and drive the next generation of tech giants the world over. With the likes of Saudi’s PIF expected $45 billion, SoftBank’s $40 billion, the fund could raise well over $100 billion—crossing the record it set at its debut.
