Wirecard forged client list to secure £760m investment from SoftBank July 11, 2022 German payments processer Wirecard forged client data in its efforts to secure €900m (£760m) in investment from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, as it sought to reassure investors about the fundamentals of its business before it collapsed the following year. The Bavarian fintech firm showed SoftBank’s representatives a fabricated list of clients on a computer in Wirecard’s [...]
CoachHub rides pandemic momentum, snagging £164m in SoftBank-led funding round June 14, 2022 Online coaching startup CoachHub has snagged $200m (£164m) in its latest funding round, led by investment heavyweight’s SoftBank and Sofina. The Silicon Valley-approved startup, initially founded in Berlin in 2018, has several headquarters across Europe, including London. Its success comes off the back of Euan Blair’s Multiverse, which hit a valuation of $1.7bn (£1.4bn) last week. [...]
Fintech PrimaryBid on verge of £110m Softbank backed round January 8, 2022 Fintech company PrimaryBid is close to finalising the details of a $150m (£110m) funding round led by SoftBank's Vision Fund II according to weekend reports.
Online meal maker Gousto raises $150m fresh funding January 7, 2022 Online meal company Gousto has raised a fresh funding led by the Japanese technology investment giant SoftBank.
Cash-stripped SoftBank turns to Apollo-led group for $4bn loan December 21, 2021 Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is turning to a group of investors led by private equity giant Apollo Global Management for a $4bn loan as it scrambles to recover its cash on hand after a series of portfolio setbacks. A group including Apollo, SoftBank’s insurance affiliate Athene Holding, and other investors including financial institutions, mutual funds and [...]
Triple whammy: SoftBank shares slide 3.5 per cent after rocky 24 hours for Didi, Arm and Grab investments December 3, 2021 Shares in Japanese conglomerate Softbank sank as much as 3.5 per cent today after three of its high-profile investments Didi, Arm and Grab were hit with setbacks in the last 24 hours. The investment giant’s shares dropped as low as 5,423 yen ($47.89) today, before settling slightly higher, but with losses of 23 per cent [...]
SoftBank caves in to investor pressure and launches $9bn share buyback November 8, 2021 SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has pledged as much as ¥1tn ($8.8bn) through a new share buyback programme over the next 12 months, in a bid to get investors back on side after the group’s Vision Fund unit plummeted to a record quarterly loss. Pressure had been mounting among SoftBank’s largest shareholders – including activist hedge [...]
SoftBank-backed AI startup Peak raises $75m in second funding round in six months August 31, 2021 Manchester-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) provider Peak will expand into new global markets after raising $75m in its latest funding round, led by SoftBank’s $100bn Vision Fund Two. Peak AI, which sells its “decision intelligence” enterprise software platform to non-tech companies to help with their operations, plans to use the latest raise to double its workforce [...]
SoftBank-backed Indian Uber rival Ola tables plans for $1bn IPO August 31, 2021 Indian Uber rival Ola is reportedly sitting on plans to raise up to $1bn through an initial public offering (IPO), joining a long line of high-ranking floats in the country. Currently finalising banks to advise on the fund-raise, Softbank-backed Ola is in talks with Bank of America and JP Morgan, three people familiar with the [...]
SoftBank ramps up exits to fund prolific Vision Fund dealmaking August 18, 2021 The Japanese investment giant sold around $14bn worth of listed stocks last quarter, marking a change in its exit-hesitant strategy in order to fund its Vision Fund’s accelerating investments in tech startups. SoftBank sold an estimated $14bn worth of listed stocks in the last quarter – almost triple that of the previous period, according to [...]