SoftBank Ventures Asia, a regional corporate venturing arm of telecommunications and internet conglomerate SoftBank, has formed a second China-focused vehicle, DealStreetAsia reported today, citing a securities filing.
China Ventures Fund II’s target size was undisclosed but SoftBank Ventures Asia said the fundraising period will take less than a year. The unit now has $1.3bn under management across 17 funds having backed some 250 artificial intelligence, internet-of-things and robotics technology developers globally.
Formed in 2000 as a South Korea-focused early-stage vehicle dubbed SoftBank Ventures Korea, the unit was rebranded in early 2019 having expanded its target to cover the wider Asia-Pacific region, in addition to the United States, Europe and Israel.
The new vehicle follows a $285m China Ventures Fund I run in association with private equity group TPG that had a $300m target and which closed in 2018. The first fund’s portfolio companies include retailer-focused cloud service Wangdiantong, smart retail software provider Huice and Nice, the owner of a sneakers trading platform.
SoftBank Ventures Asia also set up a subsidiary this month in the China-Japan Innovation Demonstration Zone, in the Chinese capital of Beijing, according to South China Morning Post.
