SoftBank is powering up again: “If you have a deal, we have the money”
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. After a two-year hiatus in India, the world's biggest technology investor is on the move again. Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank is now examining Indian startups pursuing artificial intelligence (AI), the technology world's sunrise sector.
SoftBank did go slow on investing in India for a while, conceded Sumer Juneja, managing partner and head of EMEA and India at SoftBank Investment Advisers, attributing it to the cyclical nature of investing. "There will be times when we deploy a lot; there will be times when we get the liquidity outcome," Juneja said in an interview, adding there cannot be an investment "bazooka". The Japanese investor is sitting on gains of a billion dollars in India this year, as two of its portfolio companies—Lenskart and Meesho—went public.
The company has harvested more than $7.2 billion in exits from India in the last few years, with some of the notable public market exits in Paytm, Policy Bazaar and Zomato. “If you have a deal, we have the money," said Juneja, though SoftBank has not set aside a specific sum for India. The company has pumped in more than $10.6 billion across 20 Indian companies.
Some of its top investments are in Flipkart, Oyo, Ofbusiness, Eruditus, Icertis, Whatfix, Mindtickle, Elastic Run, Unacademy and Globalbees. “Some of these companies are likely to go public in another 12-18 months," Juneja said. SoftBank-backed e-commerce startup Meesho on Wednesday debuted on the stock exchanges.
It closed at ₹168.27 a share on Thursday, with a market capitalization of ₹75,942.46 crore, valuing SoftBank's 8.5% stake at close to $700 million. Other listed companies backed by SoftBank include Firstcry, Ola Electric, Delhivery, Swiggy and Lenskart. It is
. Read on livemint.com