Softbank

ADIA invests $500 million in Lenskart

Lenskart has signed a definitive agreement to raise $500 million from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, they said Wednesday, at the height of the market slump as the Indian eyewear retailer bulks up

Upload Ventures, a SoftBank LatAm spinout, seeks to raise a $250M fund

Less than one year after Upload Ventures spun out of SoftBank’s investment arm, the Latin American–focused investment arm is seeking to raise a $250 million fund, filings show. TechCrunch reached

SoftBank joins game-focused blockchain Oasys as validator

As many observers question what real value blockchain can bring to video games, a conglomerate is vouching for the space. SoftBank Corp., the telecom operator arm of SoftBank Group, has joined Oasys,

SoftBank virtually halts new funding as it contends with persistent losses

SoftBank Group’s investment vehicles posted a loss of nearly $6 billion in the quarter that ended in December as the Japanese tech investor continues to bleed through the market downturn and signifi

SoftBank’s vibe shift is using silence loudly

Welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. It’s February, and that means two things: you can stop wishing p

Dispatch from Bangalore, end of 2022 edition

In 2014, Prayank Swaroop made a pitch to the storied venture firm Accel, where he worked as an associate, about future marketplaces in India. At the time, Flipkart and Snapdeal were the only two e-com

Autonomous delivery startup Nuro lays off 20% of workforce

Nuro, the autonomous vehicle delivery startup backed by SoftBank, Google and Tiger Global Management, is laying off about 300 people, or 20% of its workforce, in an effort to preserve cash amid a stor

SoftBank writes down nearly $100 million investment in FTX

As more details emerge regarding the events that led to FTX’s bankruptcy and stunning collapse, the cryptocurrency exchange’s investors are also being scrutinized. Namely, many people are asking j

SoftBank Vision Fund is reportedly laying off 30% of its workforce, or at least 150 employees

The Vision Fund, a venture capital arm of SoftBank, has launched a sweeping layoff process, cutting at least 30% of its workforce globally, or approximately 150 of the 500 employees, according to a re

Daily Crunch: A closer look at Google’s remote-controlled $30 Chromecast

Hello, friends, and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.

SoftBank cuts internal valuation of $10 billion Oyo to $2.7 billion

SoftBank, the largest investor in Oyo, has cut the Indian hotel chain’s valuation to $2.7 billion at a time when the startup is months away from going public, a source familiar with the matter s

SoftBank Robotics Europe is now Aldebaran (again)

Its 2015 acquisition of Aldebaran didn’t go as smoothly as SoftBank hoped. At the time, the French robotics startup was best known for its Nao, which had become a fairly ubiquitous presence in resea

DTCP taps SoftBank as an anchor LP for its next $500-600M fund

Last week, we got a glimpse of how SoftBank is pulling away from some of its more exuberant investing of the past years, when news broke that it had sold its entire stake in edtech startup Kahoot, at

SoftBank-backed Ola to cut 200 jobs in India

SoftBank-backed Ola plans to eliminate about 200 jobs across its engineering teams over the next few days, on track to shrink its workforce by over 1,200 this year, as the ride-hailing giant streamlin

Stockholm’s EQT Growth closes $2.2B to fund scaling European startups like Vinted, Mambu and Epidemic Sound

The days of European startups relocating to the U.S. if they want to grow (and raise money to do so) have been receding in the rearview mirror for a while now, so much so that even in these leaner tim

Kenya’s HotelOnline acquires hospitality software company HotelPlus

HotelOnline, a Kenya-based Yanolja-backed travel technology scale-up that fashions itself as an e-commerce and digital marketing enabler in the hospitality industry, has acquired HotelPlus, a software

Waysia raises €10M to deliver Asian grocery in Europe

COVID-19 has reshaped our lives in many ways and given rise to a plethora of services tailored to these newborn needs. Waysia, an Asian grocery delivery platform, is one such startup that retooled in

Have you marked down your portfolio yet? You are running out of time to hide

To mark down your portfolio or not mark down your portfolio? That is a question many venture capitalists are grappling with right now.

Gopuff to pull out of Spain as q-commerce belt tightening continues

The q-commerce belt tightening continues: U.S. category veteran Gopuff, the SoftBank-backed delivery platform juggernaut — which was being valued at $15 billionN as recently as 2020, and had bee

Investors detail their red (and green) flags for startups seeking venture dollars

TechCrunch sat down with several investors to hear how they're looking at the funding environment today and what their red flags -- and green flags -- are for startups looking to raise another round.
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