SBI Group is an investment company that was originated from Japanese financial group Softbank in 1999. It was founded by Yoshitaka Kitao, who remains its CEO to this day.
Originally set up as a vehicle for investing in internet-related businesses and entrepreneurs, SBI Group has widened its remit over the past two decades to encompass the technology sector as a whole, with a strong focus on blockchain developers and cryptocurrencies in the last two years.
The group’s main corporate venturing vehicle is SBI Investment, which manages funds on behalf of 14 corporations, including Japan-based Dip, Fuso, Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, House Group, Intage, Medipal, Mitsui Kinzoku, Nikon, Subaru, Sumitomo Life and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
The unit’s main areas of interest at present are the core areas of fintech, AI and blockchain, as well as 5G, agtech, IoT, big data, robotics and healthcare.
In recent months, SBI Investment has participated in fundraises for businesses including institutional trading platform AlgoTrader, DNA sequencing specialist Biofidelity, and medical researcher Veneno Technologies. It has also taken part in the $100m series C round for Indian digital bank Open.
In October last year, SBI Group subsidiary SBI Ven Capital teamed up with Switzerland-based digital asset bank Sygnum and Italy-headquartered asset manager Azimut to form a $75m venture capital vehicle aimed at the crypto and decentralised finance sectors.
Prior to launching SBI Group, Kitao worked as the chief finance officer of Softbank Corporation. He has degrees from Keio University in Japan and from Cambridge University in the UK.
