Japan-based telecommunications and internet group SoftBank opened its Vision Fund headquarters in London, UK, DealStreetAsia reported on Friday.
Announced by SoftBank in October this year, Vision Fund intends to leverage about $100bn in capital supplied by SoftBank and wealthy partners, many of which so far appear likely to be Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, to invest in late-stage technology companies.
SoftBank has so far hired 10 people for the London office and is considering recruiting “several dozen more,” a person familiar with the matter told DealStreetAsia. Rajeev Misra, previously head of strategic finance for SoftBank, is leading the fund.
Jonathan Bullock, SoftBank’s chief operations officer, and chief financial officer Alok Sama are senior advisers for the fund, while Nizar Al-Bassam and Dalinc Ariburnu have also been appointed as advisers.
SoftBank will invest $25bn in Vision Fund and so far been in talks with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the government of Abu Dhabi-owned Mubadala Development Company for financing. Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank Group, has stated the fund is set to be oversubscribed for its $100bn target.