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The SoftBank group of Japan along with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund announced a $100 billion fund for the IT revolution. The main areas will be artificial intelligence, robotics and semi-conductors. However, SoftBank added that their areas of focus also included internet-of-things, infrastructure, telecoms, biotech, fintech, mobile apps and more. The funds will steer capital for global startups and other firms for latest cutting-edge technologies.
The SoftBank’s fund is reported to be the highest in the IT industry. It has closed its initial phase with a commitment of $93 billion and has a bevy of high-profile companies such as Apple, Qualcomm, UAE-based Mubadala Investment Company, Saudi Arabia’s PID public fund, Foxconn, and Foxconn-owned Sharp.
Prior to this, SoftBank has made some bold investments and it has always encouraged innovative startups too. The bank wants to be consistent in its strategy and has a vision of creating information revolution. It also wants the industry to grow, thus it supports foundational platforms for the next generation technologies. The funds deal include Indian fintech Paytm, unicorn, virtual reality Improbable Worlds, China’s Uber killer Didi Chuxing, and global connectivity company OneWeb. Although they stated that, this is just the beginning.
The U.S president Donald Trump recently had a trip to the Middle East, where two of the major Vision Fund’s key backers are located. The bank’s CEO Masayoshi Son visited US in December where he pledged to invest $50 billion into the U.S. with the goal of creating 50,000 new jobs.
The Fund will be owned by “SB Investment advisers”. Rajiv Mishra will be the CEO of the SB Investment Advisers, whereas he will be a member of the Investment committee. Nizar Al-Bassam and Dalinic Ariburnu will serve as advisers of the Vision Fund.
