A closer look at Softbank Vision Fund’s fintech portfolio
- Softbank's $100 billion Vision Fund is active in fintech.
- Tearsheet looks at the recent investments Softbank has made.
With Softbank's recent $231 million investment in Latin American lender Creditas, we thought it might be interesting to peel back the curtain a bit on the Japanese investor.
Given that the bank's $100 billion venture fund is the biggest of its kind, those kinds of numbers spark eyepopping headlines whenever it makes an investment. At that size, Softbank frequently cuts nine figure checks.
Softbank uses its Vision fund for much of its fintech activity. But it is also opportunistic. The bank invested in SoFi in 2015 through convertible bonds. It's not clear whether that $1 billion investment was transferred to Vision's P&L or not. In 2018, Softbank invested in three subsidiaries of Chinese insurer Ping An. One of those divisions, OneConnect, is billed as an advanced technology provider of AI, blockchain, cloud platform, and biometrics identification to small and medium financial services businesses.