SoftBank to Invest Over $1 Bn in Q1 to Aid Indian Startups

With the existence of marquee global investors, India’s internet economy is booming like never before. At this circumstance, SoftBank being one of the most influential tech investors has taken the opportunity to invest nearly $1.2 billion in Indian startups in the first quarter of the current financial year, reports sources aware of the advancement.

Alongside, this is in line with Softbank’s global approach where it has made several big-ticket investments in tech startups last week.

Furthermore, the bank is finalising an investment of around $200-$250 million in ride-hailing major Ola’s electric unit-Ola Electric while it would put a minimum of $250 million in neo-banking startup Zeta making it a unicorn, a moniker for startup that has been valued at $1 billion or more.

Softbank has already invested $250 million in social commerce firm Meesho which has turned it a unicorn and tripled its valuation to little over $2 billion.

However, these investments from SoftBank accounts to more than $1 billion in size.

“SoftBank has become quite aggressive given the current scenario. These investments (mentioned above) will close in the current quarter itself and some more could be there later in the year,” states person aware of the advancement.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, believes in backing market leaders, he recently has stated that SoftBank is like a ‘goose’ giving ‘golden eggs’ referring to a strong pipeline of his portfolio companies planning to go public. Masayoshi also is expecting 10-20 startups from his portfolio to launch initial public offers in one year. Furthermore, in India, the portfolio firms like Delhivery and Policybazaar are more actively working towards going public.

“There would be more going public through 2022-2023,” this person aware of the matter said.

SoftBank has now invested $8 billion in India’s digital economy through its Vision Fund 1 & 2, including the $2.5 billion it put in Flipkart, and shortly sold it for $4 billion to Walmart when the US retailer acquired Flipkart in 2018.In total, SoftBank Group has invested over $11 billion in India, according to industry approximation.

Earlier, it has also played a significant role in India’s startup ecosystem by backing startups such as Paytm, eye-wear retailer Lenskart, hospitality startup Oyo, and baby products e-commerce firm FirstCry, and many more.