AAA SoftBank and TPG take up $300m Chinese fund

SoftBank and TPG take up $300m Chinese fund

Japan-headquartered telecommunications and internet group SoftBank has established a $300m corporate venturing fund in China in partnership with a subsidiary of private equity group TPG, The Investor has reported.

SoftBank will participate in the venture through SoftBank Ventures Korea, the Korea-based, internationally-focused fund it set up in 2000, while TPG is represented by its TPG Growth division.

China Ventures Fund I will back early-stage companies focusing on areas such as artificial intelligence, deep tech, digital media and online content. It will be managed by SoftBank Ventures Korea CEO JP Lee and Jason Ding, a managing director of TPG Growth.

Lee was quoted by The Investor as saying: “Utilising SoftBank Group’s Chinese network, we will create innovation in the Chinese market and discover tech startups in their early stage that have global competitiveness.”

In addition to SoftBank itself, SoftBank Ventures Korea’s limited partners include internet company Naver, mobile network operator LG Uplus, game producer Nexon, insurance provider KB and financial services firms KDB and NongHyup.

SoftBank’s Chinese investments so far this year include insurance firm ZhongAn, workspace provider WeWork China, trucking services provider Manbang and a $3bn joint investment with Alibaba into the local services platform formed by the merger of Koubei and Ele.me.

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