SoftBank faces trouble gaining investments for Vision Fund II
The Vision Fund, the $100 billion investment vehicle by Japanese firm SoftBank, has certainly left its mark on the investment space, especially in the private capital markets.
Recently, it has been in the news for facing challenges in raising follow-on capital.
Despite news about the possibility of Oman’s sovereign wealth fund investing in the new Vision Fund II, and the seemingly constant news coverage that the Vision Fund gets, the previous investors are reluctant to make new investments.
Many of the biggest funds already have established programs to invest directly in late-stage startups and aren’t interested in paying fees to another party, people close to them said.The Wall Street Journal
The Fund had earlier raised capital from sovereign investors such as the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, who are now reluctant to invest further.
The quick deployment of capital from the Fund has seen late-stage startups like Uber fuel its rapid business growth. Other notable investments of the Vision Fund include Grab, WeWork, Slack, and Oyo.
As the markets are seen to slow down, many late-stage startups holding before going public. This has locked the Vision Fund’s capital and delayed returns. Inspire of facing challenges, we believe SoftbBank will manage to raise funding. However, given the climate and reluctancy of its investors, it may change investment tactics and slow down capital injection in the startup ecosystem.
Read more about the difficulties that SoftBank has with its second Vision Fund here.
