SoftBank technology fund secures $93bn in funding commitments

21 May 2017

The fund is targeting a final close of $100bn within the next six months

Japan’s Softbank Group private equity fund backed by sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi has raised more than $93bn in committed capital to invest in global technology sector.

The SoftBank Vision Fund, now one of the biggest PE funds in the world, is targeting a final close of $100bn within the next six months. In addition to Softbank, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), UAE’s Mubadala, Investment Company which has committed $15bn, Apple, Foxconn Technology Group, Qualcomm Incorporated and Sharp Corporation are among the investors in the fund.

Managed by SBG, the fund will seek to acquire long-term investments including minority and majority interests in both private and public companies, from emerging technology businesses to established, multi-billion dollar companies requiring substantial growth funding.

“The next stage of the Information Revolution is under way, and building the businesses that will make this possible will require unprecedented large-scale, long-term investment,” the fund said in a statement.

It will invest across technology sectors, including internet-of-things, artificial intelligence, robotics, mobile applications and computing, communications infrastructure and telecoms, computational biology and data-driven business models and financial technology.

The Fund will have the right to acquire certain investments already acquired or agreed to be acquired by the SBG, including 24.99 per cent of its holding in ARM, and investments in Guardant Health, Intelsat, NVIDIA, OneWeb and SoFi.

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