SoftBank sees new-found caution as secret weapon in AI arms race businesstimes.com.sg - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from businesstimes.com.sg Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Vision Fund unit made just 29 new and follow-on investments in all of 2023 out of more than 300 companies it studied. The October-to-December quarter was the unit s most miserly since 2017, with SoftBank saying the funds made $100 million in new investments, a drop from the heady days of 2021, when they spent $20.9 billion in April-June alone.
It also highlights the lingering effect of SoftBank s "defence mode", a strategy it adopted after being hit by plummeting valuations in the aftermath of the pandemic, when higher interest rates eroded investor appetite for risk.
For years, SoftBank Group
splashed out billions on startups at near-peak
valuations without batting an eye. Now founder Masayoshi Son s
tech powerhouse is relying on a new weapon as it searches.
Analysis-SoftBank sees new-found caution as secret weapon in AI arms race streetinsider.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from streetinsider.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.