Japan-headquartered telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s second Vision Fund could end up being sized at up to 30% smaller than its first, The Telegraph reported yesterday, citing undisclosed insiders.
The company raised $98.6bn for its first fund and secured memoranda of understanding from prospective backers to provide $108bn for Vision Fund II five months ago, though those commitments are not of course binding.
SoftBank is in ongoing talks with Mubadala Investment and Public Investment Fund (PIF), which represent the governments of Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia respectively. PIF provided $45bn for the first fund while Mubadala put up $15bn.
Vision Fund II had reportedly closed $2bn as of last month, and reports earlier this year suggested SoftBank intended to put up $38bn of its own capital for the vehicle. A spokesperson told The Telegraph fundraising was going as expected.
The first Vision Fund has made a series of high-profile investments and has had some successes, turning a heavy profit on Walmart’s acquisition of a majority stake in India-based e-commerce marketplace Flipkart at a $20.8bn valuation.
However, the fund has been in the headlines more for its less successful deals, most prominently WeWork. SoftBank had to provide a $9.5bn rescue package after the company failed to go public in September 2019.
Two other large-scale investments, on-demand ride provider Uber and enterprise messaging platform Slack, have dropped in valuation since going public earlier this year.
