Japan-headquartered telecommunications and internet group SoftBank will put up as much as $500m for its revamped SoftBank Ventures Asia fund, the unit’s chief executive, JP Lee, told Reuters yesterday.
SoftBank Ventures Asia was launched as a revamped version of the corporate’s SoftBank Ventures Korea unit in January this year with an expanded remit to invest across Asia, Europe and the US, and Lee was appointed CEO and managing partner shortly afterwards.
Lee said: “It is an important signal within the SoftBank Group that SoftBank thinks early-stage investments are important and will make continued efforts on them.”
SoftBank Ventures Asia is looking to hire investment managers for offices it plans to open Shanghai, China and Singapore, adding to offices in the cities of Beijing, Seoul, San Francisco and Tel Aviv. Lee said it may also seek funding from external limited partners such as South Korea’s National Pension Service.
The unit’s early-stage focus represents a contrast with SoftBank’s other investment vehicle, the $98.6bn Vision Fund, which makes nine and 10-figure investments in growth-stage companies.
The latter has now allocated 70% of its capital, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son told CNBC on Friday, apparently marking a significant increase in activity considering reports only last month that it had reached its halfway point.
“We have invested probably $70bn or so,” Son said. “But we have banks who are wishing to support us for extending leverage because the value of our assets has grown.”
Son has said in the past that he hopes to raise a succession of Vision Funds that, like the first, will largely be financed by external limited partners. However, those partners are reportedly questioning the rate at which it is investing, and Son told CNBC it is currently unclear whether the firm will actually go ahead with that plan.