The company formerly known as WeWork has rebranded as the We Company — although a better name for its network of on-demand office spaces for the newly incorporated and nominally employed; co-living spaces for the same Easyjet-set; and educational and coding services could be “House of Cards”. News of the rebranding (first reported via Fast Company) comes […]
View More WeWork rebranding won’t workCategory: SoftBank Group
Grab raises fundraising target to $5B as Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing war heats up
Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab is aiming to start the new year with a bang and an awful load of bucks. The company, which acquired Uber’s local business earlier this year, is planning to raise as much as $5 billion from its ongoing Series H round, up from an original target of $3 billion, a source with […]
View More Grab raises fundraising target to $5B as Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing war heats upSoftBank’s Vision Fund is preparing to invest $1 billion in Grab
SoftBank’s Vision Fund is set to continue its recent spree of investments in Asian tech unicorns. The mega fund — which is targeted at $100 billion — is planning to invest upwards of $1 billion into Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing leader Grab, two sources with knowledge of the plan told TechCrunch. The investment could reach as much […]
View More SoftBank’s Vision Fund is preparing to invest $1 billion in GrabWith today’s IPO sinking, a year of highs and lows for SoftBank
If there was a word that dominated startup and tech news coverage this year, it was SoftBank. The Japanese telecom conglomerate’s Vision Fund pushed out a prodigious amount of capital this year — quite literally billions of dollars — into companies as diverse as a molecular manufacturer (Zymergen) and a robotic pizza delivery business (Zume Pizza). […]
View More With today’s IPO sinking, a year of highs and lows for SoftBankSoftBank Corp shares drop 14% on their first day of trading, but it’s still one of the largest IPOs ever
SoftBank Corp’s initial public offering today started with a bang before trailing off into a whimper, with the stock falling 14.5 percent during its first day of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company is the mobile unit of conglomerate SoftBank Group, whose holdings also include Sprint and the $100 billion Vision Fund. Shares […]
View More SoftBank Corp shares drop 14% on their first day of trading, but it’s still one of the largest IPOs everIndonesia 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 invests in parking startup ParkJockey pushing valuation to $1 billion
SoftBank continues to invest in the future of transportation — this time in ParkJockey, a startup that has built a technology platform aimed at monetizing parking lots. And ParkJockey, which was founded in 2013, is already using that capital to scale up. Along with the SoftBank investment news, ParkJockey also announced that it was acquiring two […]
View More SoftBank invests in parking startup ParkJockey pushing valuation to $1 billionSoftBank’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 $100BGrab invests $100M into India’s OYO to expand its budget hotel service in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab has made its most ambitious investment to date after it backed India-headquartered budget hotel network OYO to the tune of $100 million. The investment was part of a $1 billion Series E round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund that closed back in September. The deal was first made public via a […]
View More Grab invests $100M into India’s OYO to expand its budget hotel service in Southeast AsiaEx-Facebook exec Kirthiga Reddy becomes first female investor at SoftBank’s Vision Fund
Following speculation that SoftBank is hiring a China-based team, so the Japanese investment giant has brought on a first venture partner (and first female) for its $100 billion Vision Fund. Kirthiga Reddy, a former executive with Facebook, has taken the role and, in doing so, she becomes the first female member of SoftBank’s Vision Fund […]
View More Ex-Facebook exec Kirthiga Reddy becomes first female investor at SoftBank’s Vision FundSoftBank sets indicative share price of 1,500 yen for next month’s IPO
In a regulatory filing today, SoftBank Group said it has set an indicative price of 1,500 yen ($13.22) per share for the initial public offering of its domestic telecoms unit next month. This means the offering is potentially worth 2.4 trillion yen (about $21.16 billion), making it one of the largest IPOs ever. The price […]
View More SoftBank sets indicative share price of 1,500 yen for next month’s IPOChina’s Didi adds driver training program to counter sharp decline in rides
Didi Chuxing, China’s largest ride-hailing company by number of users, has been struggling to recover from a major setback following the deaths of two passengers earlier this year. On Wednesday, its founder and CEO Cheng Wei released a letter detailing the company’s moves to step up safety oversight and meet new government rules, including a training […]
View More China’s Didi adds driver training program to counter sharp decline in rides