Lydia Jett has been promoted to partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, the $98.6bn investment vehicle managed by Japan-based telecommunications group SoftBank, Bloomberg has reported.
Jett joined Softbank in 2015, the year before Vision Fund was formally established, and has been leading and managing investments on behalf of the corporate in areas such as consumer internet, e-commerce, marketplaces, robotics and financial technology.
Jett has board seats at portfolio companies including online automotive marketplace Fair.com and e-commerce platforms Tokopedia and Coupang as well as Flipkart, before SoftBank exited in August 2018 with a $1.5bn profit. She is also a board observer for online sports memorabilia retailer Fanatics.
Prior to joining to Softbank, Jett spent six years as a vice-president at private equity firm M/C Partners, where she focused on communications, media and IT investments. She had previously held an associate role at investment bank Goldman Sachs and worked as an analyst at JP Morgan.
Vision Fund reached a $93bn first close in May 2017 before increasing its capital allocation to $98.6bn in December 2018. The corporate has set a $100bn target for its final close.
Regarding her promotion, Jett told Bloomberg: “It puts another woman in the room. The work is the same work I have been doing for years, which is being laser-focused on finding the best companies, and building and mentoring the team.”
Image of Lydia Jett courtesy of LinkedIn