SoftBank Launches a Huge Fund to Invest into Artificial Intelligence

Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company SoftBank has launched a new $108 billion fund to invest in A.I. dubbed Vision Fund 2.

The company made the announcement earlier this month about its second mega fund that would invest into technology start-ups across the globe.

Expected to participate are major corporations that include Apple, Microsoft, Foxconn, Standard Chartered Bank, Japanese financial companies Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation MUFG Bank.

Others expected to participate include the National Investment Corporation of National Bank of Kazakhstan and investors from Taiwan.

Softbank said that it plans to add $38 billion into the new fund while the rest will come from other partners.
It was last week that the Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi had indicated they were re likely to invest again. The WSJ also reported that SoftBank plans to encourage its “roughly 75 companies to shift from Amazon’s cloud platform to Microsoft’s.”

The company’s original Vision Fund, raised in 2017, invested in such companies such as Uber, DoorDash, GM Cruise and WeWork.