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§ Venture Capital · Tokyo Port City Takeshiba Office Tower 35F 1-7-1 Kaigan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
SoftBank Vision Fund is a company.
SoftBank Vision Fund operates as a global technology investment firm, focused on companies poised to lead the artificial intelligence era. It supports a full-stack AI ecosystem, deploying capital across hardware, infrastructure, and applications. The fund identifies and empowers businesses at the forefront of technological transformation, seeking to drive innovation from foundational components to end-user applications.
Established in 2016 by Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank Group, the fund originated from his vision to create a substantial investment platform. This aimed to accelerate SoftBank's global growth strategy, strategically deploying capital to foster alliances and catalyze opportunities in the evolving technology landscape. Son's extensive experience in scaling technology ventures informed this strategic initiative.
Its portfolio includes diverse high-growth technology companies, benefiting from the fund's extensive network and strategic guidance. SoftBank Vision Fund's mission is to facilitate the global transition to an AI-driven economy, enabling next-generation human interactions and supporting founders in building market-leading enterprises that will define the future.
Key people at SoftBank Vision Fund.
The SoftBank Vision Fund is the world's largest technology-focused venture capital fund, launched in 2017 with over $100 billion in capital commitments, managed by SoftBank Investment Advisers, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group.[1][4] Its mission centers on accelerating the AI revolution by investing in innovative technologies and entrepreneurs across sectors like AI, robotics, fintech, transportation, and consumer tech, with a philosophy emphasizing massive scale, platform-building ecosystems, and bold bets on market leaders to dominate emerging trends.[1][3][4] Key backers include Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund ($45 billion), SoftBank ($28 billion), Mubadala ($15 billion), and others like Apple, enabling freedom-level capital for founders.[1][2][3] The fund has profoundly shaped the startup ecosystem through mega-investments (often $100M+ in Silicon Valley firms), providing not just capital but operating support and networks, though it faced scrutiny amid 2020 portfolio layoffs and activist pressure for transparency.[1]
A sister fund, Vision Fund 2, launched in 2019, continues this focus on tech-enabled growth companies, with a global footprint via offices in London, Silicon Valley, Tokyo, and beyond.[1][4][5]
SoftBank Vision Fund emerged from the vision of Masayoshi Son, SoftBank Group's founder, CEO, and Chairman, who has a track record of prescient tech bets dating back to founding SoftBank in 1981 as a PC software distributor in Japan after being inspired by microchips during U.S. studies.[3][4] Son first publicly outlined the fund concept in October 2016, aiming to invest in promising global tech companies to drive the information revolution, internally codenamed "Project Crystal Ball."[1][2] It officially launched in May 2017 with its first major close in December, backed primarily by sovereign wealth funds: PIF ($45B), SoftBank ($28B), Mubadala ($15B), plus a $6B Delta Fund sidecar.[1][2][4]
Key partners include Rajeev Misra, who leads as a former banking executive with derivatives expertise and close ties to Son, now supported by CEO Alex Clavel and a 49-member team of investors, operators, and specialists across Americas, Asia, and EMEA.[2][5] The fund evolved from SoftBank's history of bold moves—like its $20M Alibaba investment yielding $60B on IPO, Arm Holdings acquisition for IoT, and early web bets—to focus on AI-driven disruption, expanding with Vision Fund 2 in 2019 and a Latin America-focused vehicle.[1][3][4]
SoftBank Vision Fund rides the AI revolution wave, investing in technologies poised to reshape industries from mobility (Uber) to automation and gig economies (WeWork), aligning with Son's 300-year horizon for exponential progress.[1][3][4] Timing capitalized on post-2010s mobile/IoT maturity and cheap capital from sovereign funds amid low rates, enabling bets on unproven models at sky-high valuations to build "planetary" ecosystems where winners aggregate dominance.[3]
Market forces like AI hype, geopolitical tech shifts (e.g., Saudi diversification via PIF), and VC dry powder gaps favor its scale, influencing the ecosystem by inflating valuations, accelerating hyper-growth startups, and sparking debates on sustainability—evident in 2020 corrections but rebounding via Vision Fund 2 amid enduring AI momentum.[1][2][4] It amplifies ambition for founders tackling global challenges, setting a benchmark for state-backed VC in tech.
SoftBank Vision Fund will likely double down on AI, automation, and next-gen platforms, evolving influence through Vision Fund 2 and regional vehicles like Latin America to back resilient, market-leading founders amid maturing VC cycles and regulatory scrutiny.[4][6] Trends like generative AI, edge computing (via Arm synergies), and geopolitical realignments will shape its path, potentially yielding outsized returns if portfolios like Whatfix and ecommerce plays scale, though activist pressures demand tighter governance.[1][5][6] As the fund's massive capital continues fueling the AI era, it remains a high-stakes catalyst—rewarding visionaries like Son while testing the limits of bold, ecosystem-scale investing.
SoftBank Vision Fund has 9 tracked investments across 9 companies. The latest tracked deal is $150.0M Series B in Noah Medical in April 2023.
Key people at SoftBank Vision Fund.
