SoftBank’s Vision Fund raises US$93 billion

SoftBank announced that its VisionFund has closed an initial commitment of US$93 billion from multiple backers which include Apple, Qualcomm, Mubadala Investment Company, PID public fund, Foxconn, and Sharp. The fund is expected to reach its US$100 billion target in the coming six months.

“Technology has the potential to address the biggest challenges and risks facing humanity today. The businesses working to solve these problems will require patient long-term capital and visionary strategic investment partners with the resources to nurture their success,” Son said in a statement.

According to the official press release, SBG created the SoftBank Vision Fund as a result of its strongly held belief that the next stage of the Information Revolution is underway, and building the businesses that will make this possible will require unprecedented large scale long-term investment. Additionally, the Fund’s portfolio companies are expected to significantly benefit from SBG’s global scale and operational expertise, as well as its ecosystem of group portfolio companies (including Sprint and Yahoo Japan); this will thereby help them to accelerate their own growth profile.

SoftBank Vision Fund will be based in West London’s Mayfair. It has named Rajeev Misra, its head of strategic finance, to lead the project. Jonathan Bullock, COO of SoftBank International, and Alok Sama, SoftBank’s CFO, have also been appointed senior advisers.