SoftBank India scores over $5.5 billion exits since 2018

livemint.com:

MUMBAI : Late-stage technology investor SoftBank Investment Advisers has made more than $5.5 billion in exits from its Indian portfolio since it began operations in November 2018 in Mumbai, said Sumer Juneja, the firm’s managing partner. Of the total, about $1.5 billion was booked in the last 12-18 months, said Juneja, also the firm’s head for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Another $1.5 billion is liquid and in tradable equities, he said in an interview.

“Our portfolio is now maturing, so exits will happen. Our view is that every year, we should have one, if not two exits," said Juneja. “Most investments we’ve made since the India office opened five years ago has had up-rounds from some marquee investors," he added.

An up-round is when a new set of investors come in to invest at a higher valuation. In recent months, SoftBank made partial exits in private startups such as Lenskart and FirstCry and booked profits from listed startups such as Paytm, Zomato, Delhivery and PolicyBazaar. It continues to hold stakes in these firms.

SoftBank’s biggest exit so far was from Flipkart in 2018, when the firm sold its 20% stake in the Indian e-commerce marketplace to Walmart for about $4 billion. SoftBank subsequently made a return investment in Flipkart in 2021, as part of a larger $3 billion funding round. Overall, the Japanese investment giant has invested around $15 billion in India since 2011.

It has put in around $11 billion through its vision funds since 2017. “Our thesis in India is that we will invest in companies at $1-2 billion valuation and exit at the $5-6 billion valuation mark," said Juneja. As additional companies from its portfolio go public, SoftBank, run by Masayoshi Son, is likely to make more exits in India.