Vision Fund
Not so long ago, things were looking bleak for SoftBank, the investment holding company headed by eclectic — and controversial — tech mogul Masayoshi Son. The Vision Fund, SoftBank’s venture…
WeWork’s bankruptcy is proof that its core business never actually worked
Did WeWork’s business ever make sense? To answer that question, we’ll go over its S-1 filings, its SPAC deal and early earnings reports.
Frankly, we deserve some adventurous venture capital after so many monhts of dreary conversations about cash flow.
General Atlantic buys out SoftBank’s 15% stake in edtech Kahoot, now valued at about $152M vs the $215M SoftBank ponied up 2 years ago
SoftBank’s retreat from its past investing exuberance continues apace. This morning, Kahoot, the Norwegian startup that provides a popular platform for people to build and use education-focused games, announced that…
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…
Losses at SoftBank’s Vision Funds have consumed nearly all their historical gains
The Vision Fund was always a funded vision; today we learned just how cloudy that perspective is proving.
SoftBank cautions longer startup winter because unicorn founders are unwilling to cut valuations
Masayoshi Son, founder and chief executive of SoftBank Group, which reported a quarterly loss of more than $23 billion, is worried that the funding winter for startups may continue for…
Weee! delivers second big funding round in a year, this time backed by SoftBank
This new monster round comes about a year after another big fundraise of $316 million in Series D financing.
Clikalia clicks on $86M to expand its iBuyer marketplace across Europe and Latin America
Companies like Opendoor opened the door to a new way of buying and selling properties by inserting a strong middle player who could buy houses or apartments and redevelop them…
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African tech took center stage in 2021
Two years ago, the African tech ecosystem saw newfound attention from global players that translated to the continent’s best year of receiving venture capital. From varying sources, it is estimated up to $2 billion went into African tech startups in 2019. With high-profile visits from the most famous Jacks (Ma and Dorsey), a long-awaited first…
UK’s Atom Learning picks up $25M from SoftBank for an AI-based online learning platform aimed at elementary school-aged students
The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new chapter for virtual learning, giving a boost of attention to existing tools and spurring the creation of new services and use cases as…
Balderton closes $600M fund, its biggest yet earmarked for early-stage investments
Funding for European startups is at a record-high so far for this year, with €73.7 billion raised in the first three quarters, and the full year on track for more…
How China’s regulatory crackdown whomped Vision Fund 1’s returns
In essence, Chinese regulatory action is harming the value of a U.S. stock, which is bringing down the value of a Japanese investment fund, which raised most of its capital…
Sendcloud nabs $177M led by SoftBank to double down on SaaS — shipping as a service
E-commerce has undoubtedly seen a huge boost in growth in the last year and a half of COVID-19 living, with people turning to the web and apps to shop for…
Sendoso nabs $100M as its corporate gifting platform passes 20,000 customers
Corporate gift services have come into their own during the COVID-19 pandemic by standing in as a proxy for other kinds of relationship-building activities — office meetings, lunches and hosting…
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VCs unfazed by Chinese regulatory shakeups (so far)
Slightly falling quarterly venture capital totals and a notable decline in unicorn formation does not a startup winter make. So let’s look at what’s happened more recently.
Mark Cuban-backed Eterneva raises $10M to turn your loved one’s ashes into diamonds
The loss of a loved one is perhaps one of the most traumatic things a person can experience. When it comes to memorializing someone after their death, most people think…
SoftBank-backed construction giant Katerra said to be shutting down after raising billions
After burning through more than $2 billion in funding, SoftBank-backed construction startup Katerra has told employees that it will be shutting down operations, according to a report in The Information.…
Coupang’s IPO was a success, no matter how you slice it, even if you have valuation quibbles. And it was a huge win for SoftBank.
While it remains an ongoing challenge to get these numbers in sync with other industries, there were two developments specifically in 2020 that may beget more action in 2021.
After years of rumors and high-flying headlines, we finally have the S-1 for DoorDash. Alex has covered the primary details, but I figured it would be good to dive in…
Spying a pivot to ghost kitchens, SoftBank’s second Vision Fund pours $120 million into Ordermark
“We’re building a decentralized ghost kitchen,” is a sentence that could launch a thousand investor calls, and Alex Canter, the chief executive officer behind Ordermark, knows it. The 29-year-old CEO…
SoftBank’s $100 million diversity and inclusion fund makes its first bet … in health
SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund has made the health insurance startup Vitable Health the first public commitment from its $100 million fund dedicated to investing in startups founded by entrepreneurs of color.…
Silver Lake adds a $2 billion ‘long-term’ hedge fund backed by Abu Dhabi to its tech finance toolkit
Silver Lake, the multi-billion-dollar tech-focused investment firm, is adding a long-term hedge fund backed by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, to its array of investment vehicles to finance technology…
The future of retail and office space is up in the air, and proptech investors are optimistic
The malls and grocery stores of the 20th century are being converted into industrial conveyor belts of goods and services traveling from the internet to your home.
Former Atomico and SoftBank VC Carolina Brochado has joined EQT to help build its new growth fund
Carolina Brochado, the former Atomico partner and most recently a partner at SoftBank Vision Fund’s London office, has joined EQT to help launch a new fund dedicated to growth-stage investments,…
Zuoyebang, a Beijing-headquartered startup that runs an online learning app, said on Monday it has raised $750 million in a new financing round as investors demonstrate their continued trust in…
Masayoshi Son resigns from board of Alibaba; defends SoftBank Group’s investment strategy
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son said on Thursday he is leaving the board of Jack Ma’s Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group today, a month after Ma left the board of…
Why are unicorns pushing back IPOs when the Nasdaq is near record highs?
The unicorns are still at it, Vision Fund 2 or no Vision Fund 2. This week, Instacart announced that it has raised fresh capital at a valuation north of $13…
SaaS businesses uniquely benefited from falling infrastructure costs, superior business models, low interest rates and a shift from on-premise IT systems, but these tailwinds won’t last forever.
