Money talks in the startup community, especially when SoftBank comes knocking with the megabucks of its Vision Fund. Despite the public outcry around the firm’s dependence on money from Saudi Arabia in the wake of that country’s assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, deal flow for Softbank’s Vision Fund appears to be back to […]
View More The Khashoggi murder isn’t stopping SoftBank’s Vision FundCategory: Mohammed Bin Salman
Indonesia e-commerce leader Tokopedia raises $1.1B from Alibaba and SoftBank’s Vision Fund
Indonesia-based e-commerce firm Tokopedia is the latest startup to enter the Vision Fund after it raised $1.1 billion Series G round led by the SoftBank megafund and Alibaba. SoftBank and Alibaba are existing investors in the business — the Chinese e-commerce giant led a $1.1 billion round last year, while SoftBank recently transitioned its shareholding […]
View More Indonesia e-commerce leader Tokopedia raises $1.1B from Alibaba and SoftBank’s Vision FundSoftBank’s Vision Fund inches closer to $100B
Much has been said about the SoftBank Vision Fund, mostly in awe of the size of the investment vehicle. Today, however, the Vision Fund inched yet closer to that twelve-figure goal.
View More SoftBank’s Vision Fund inches closer to $100BKorean e-commerce firm Coupang raises $2 billion from SoftBank’s Vision Fund
Just days after a CIA report concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, SoftBank’s Vision Fund — the gargantuan investment vehicle anchored by a $45 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s PIF sovereign fund — is back in check-writing action. Coupang, Korea’s largest e-commerce firm, revealed today that it has […]
View More Korean e-commerce firm Coupang raises $2 billion from SoftBank’s Vision FundSoftBank CEO pulls out of speaking at Saudi investment conference
SoftBank Group has become the latest high profile technology business to drop out of an investment conference in Saudi Arabia following the snowballing global outcry over the killing of journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. The Wall Street Journal reports the last minute cancelation by CEO Masayoshi Son of a speaking engagement at the Future Investment Initiative conference which opens in […]
View More SoftBank CEO pulls out of speaking at Saudi investment conferenceKhashoggi’s fate shows the flip side of the surveillance state
It’s been over five years since NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden lifted the lid on government mass surveillance programs, revealing, in unprecedented detail, quite how deep the rabbit hole goes thanks to the spread of commercial software and connectivity enabling a bottomless intelligence-gathering philosophy of ‘bag it all’. Yet technology’s onward march has hardly broken its stride. […]
View More Khashoggi’s fate shows the flip side of the surveillance stateSaudi Arabia’s sovereign fund will also invest $45B in SoftBank’s second Vision Fund
The sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia plans to invest $45 billion into the second SoftBank Vision Fund, two years after putting the same amount into the original $100 billion Vision Fund, Saudi Arabia Crown Price Mohammed bin Salman told Bloomberg in an interview on Friday. When the first Vision Fund was announced, it was by […]
View More Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund will also invest $45B in SoftBank’s second Vision Fund