SoftBank resets India investment plan as valuations plunge

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Hello reader,

I’ve always been enamored by SoftBank’s rise to the top of the startup world. Masayoshi Son, SoftBank founder and one of Japan’s wealthiest people, built a reputation as a maverick in a business culture that generally eschews risk-taking after he refashioned the former telecoms firm into the world’s biggest tech investor.

Son spoke of delivering “golden eggs” in February 2021 amid the global investment boom, which was driven by rock-bottom interest rates and high liquidity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Unrealized gains from SoftBank’s Vision Funds peaked at US$66 billion during that quarter.

However, fast forward to November 2022 and the Japanese conglomerate was back to the drawing board. SoftBank lost the cumulative investment gains from its Vision Funds due to the weakening economic outlook that had hammered the valuations of its portfolio firms.

These mega tech funds also continued to bleed billions of dollars even after losing over US$27 billion in the previous fiscal year.

Naturally, SoftBank has gone on the defensive and its effects are felt in India, which accounts for nearly 10% of its global assets under management. Its investment in the world’s fifth largest economy fell roughly 84% in 2022 on a year-on-year basis, a source told Tech in Asia.

My colleague Samreen charts SoftBank’s investment roadmap in India for 2023 in today’s featured piece. It uncovers the reasons behind SoftBank’s pivot to enter Indian companies with US$1 billion to US$2 billion valuation and shows why SoftBank will likely continue to make fewer deals in the South Asian nation.

Today we look at:

• SoftBank’s 2023 plan for India
• Gobble, a food-ordering firm based in Singapore, shuts down
• Other newsy highlights such as Zilingo’s impending liquidation, and Nykaa’s new CFO

— Shravanth

P.S.: If you’re an entrepreneur looking for funding, fill out this form to get your company featured on our list of fundraising startups.

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A waiting game

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Gobbled into the abyss

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