SoftBank Group Corp. announced an initial commitment of US$3 billion for the launch of SoftBank Latin America Fund II, bringing its total commitment to the region to US$8 billion.
This fund is expected to help drive economic growth and development in Latin America, investing in several innovative companies and helping create regional jobs. It will also support the region’s digital transformation and the creation of a new wave of entrepreneurs.
SoftBank Group Corp. Announces Initial Commitment of US$3 Billion to Launch SoftBank Latin America Fund II Bringing Total Commitment to the Region to US$8 Billion
SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”) has announced the initial commitment of US$3billion to launch SoftBank Latin America Fund II (“SoftBank Latin America Fund II”), an infrastructure fund dedicated to driving economic growth and development in Latin America through strategic investments in technology and infrastructure projects in the region. Combined with SoftBank Vision Fund 1, this brings the total commitment of both funds to US$8 billion, making SoftBank one of the region’s largest foreign investors.
With SoftBank Latin America Fund II, SoftBank focuses on frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics, while investing significant capital into traditional infrastructure assets such as energy, transportation, logistics and retail. The new fund is expected to provide new opportunities for innovative startups and challenging projects that are overlooked or lack financial resources from traditional sources.
The current macroeconomic environment presents attractive investment opportunities in several sectors within Latin America. This enables unique investment opportunities for Softbank funds connected through a network of local partners helping them identify developing solutions that can transform societies and economies – including initiatives focused on education, healthcare, finance and sustainability. As part of its investment strategy towards economic recovery, Softbank is committed to acting responsibly with all its stakeholders while aiming at enhancing regional prosperity with sustainable online solutions and delivering long-term returns for its investors.
Overview of SoftBank Latin America Fund II
SoftBank Group Corp. has announced its initial commitment of US$3 billion to launch SoftBank Latin America Fund II. This is an important development that will help to drive economic growth and development in the region.
This commitment will bring the total commitment of SoftBank to the region to US$8 billion. This Fund is intended to provide venture capital to tech companies and help foster emerging technologies in the region. It will be a key factor to the growth of the region’s economy.
Purpose of the fund
SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”) has announced its commitment of US$3 billion to launch the SoftBank Latin America Fund II (“Fund II”). Fund II aims to support economic growth and development in Latin America, seeking investments in various industries and technologies from marketplaces, e-commerce and digital media companies to fintech, enterprise software and health tech start-ups. With this new fund, SoftBank’s total commitment to the region rises to US$8 billion.
By providing capital for early-stage investments, companies will be able to transform business models through technology solutions that create long-term value for their customers. Additionally, SoftBank aims to become an active partner in building a dynamic entrepreneurial culture through mentoring that supports founders as they build leading regional businesses across the entire investment spectrum while investing capital into important social initiatives that improve living standards in local communities across Latin America.
By combining its capital resources with technical guidance, Fund II is designed to create long-term value while driving positive social impact across the region.
Commitment of US$8 billion to the region
SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”), a multinational technology and telecommunications holding company has announced an initial commitment of US$3 billion to launch the SoftBank Latin America Fund II (the “Fund”). This brings SoftBank’s total commitment to Latin America to US$8 billion. This marks a significant milestone in the continued development of its presence in Latin America and one of the largest commitments by any investor to this region.
The additional US$3 billion marks an investment in existing and new technology, venture capital, private equity, and infrastructure businesses across Latin America. SoftBank’s additional US$3 billion commitment is expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, rebuild economic growth, develop innovative solutions and technologies that address the continent’s most pressing challenges, increase digital connectivity throughout Latin America, while fostering new sources of capital formation for local entrepreneurs and tech startups that are developing leading-edge products and services.
SoftBank’s total commitments to date have also established an unparalleled track record for softbank making significant investments through its highly successful Softbank Vision Fund and other funds managed by its affiliates. With over $100bn under management worldwide, Softbank is now well positioned to continue expanding its footprint into some of the fastest growing markets in Latin America such as Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Furthermore, these investments are causing radical disruption within traditional industries—creating jobs at unprecedented speed and scale—and providing new opportunities for innovation through cloud computing, internet-of-things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives; all fundamentally altering how people living throughout various countries therein interact with technology on a day-to-day basis.
Impact of the Fund
On April 8th, 2021, the SoftBank Group Corp. announced its launch of the SoftBank Latin America Fund II with an initial commitment of US$3 Billion. The SoftBank Latin America Fund II is a continuation of its fund in the region, with a total commitment of US$8 Billion, and has the potential to drive economic growth and development throughout Latin America.
In this section, we’ll examine this fund’s impact on the region.
Economic growth and development in the region
SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”) today announced an initial commitment of US$3 billion to launch SoftBank Latin America Fund II (“LAFII”) and bring its total commitment to the region to US$8 billion. The new fund, which will focus on technology-enabled opportunities, seeks to support Latin America’s economic growth and development and positively impact the lives of people across the region.
As a global technology leader with a long-term vision for sustainable investment in Latin America, SoftBank is taking a hands-on approach in accelerating the development of high-growth industries in Latin America through key investments spanning digital infrastructure, enterprise software, mobility and consumer companies. Since its original launch in 2019, Softbank has seen strong returns with LAFI portfolio companies exhibiting exponential growth amid the pandemic with double-digit plus market share increases year over year. In addition, LAFII expects to provide emerging local businesses – from start-ups to established companies – access to capital resources, seasoned expertise and international network that they need to reach their full potential despite challenging business environments held by COVID 19 times.
By leveraging its alliances with venture capital firms such as InnovoCapital and monashees+, SoftBank plans on delivering more value than just capital investments by connecting them with resources including best practices knowhow/operational frameworks/talent sharing platform/cross border mentorship/strategic networks necessary for start ups & scale ups in this new era of opportunities post pandemic. Through these efforts, SoftBank aims to contribute by helping strengthen digital ecosystems around Latin America and drive job growth for individuals across all socio-economic backgrounds, allowing them equal access & opportunity towards creating a better & brighter future for their families within this diverse region.
Job creation and investment opportunities
SoftBank Group Corp. has announced its initial commitment of US$3 billion for the SoftBank Latin America Fund II, bringing its total commitment to the region to US$8 billion. This fund is expected to help drive economic growth and development in Latin America by creating jobs and investment opportunities.
The fund will look to identify and invest in key sectors, with strong potential for growth such as digital infrastructure, technology and industry 4.0 sectors; consumer retail, health, education and gaming; fintech; logistics & enablement services; agriculture & agritech; insurance & Insurtech; energy efficiency & renewable energy; real estate tech ;and more.
This new fund comes from the successful SoftBank Vision Fund 1 which invested US$5 billion in several large Latin American companies such as Creditas, Grupo LM (Portal Educação) and Rappi. These investments brought significant job creation opportunities along with improved products and services offered throughout the region, enhancing quality of life for many people in Latin America.
With this new commitment towards job creation and development of key sectors, SoftBank provides an opportunity for a financial expansion of the region beyond public sector scenarios. Furthermore, by deploying funds into areas that can stimulate greater economic development in Latin America, SoftBank has demonstrated its commitment towards making these investments long-term while creating lasting value from them through careful selection process focused on core values related to economic growth through digitization as well as support businesses achieve profitability at scale across different market segments than exist today.
SoftBank’s Commitment to Latin America
SoftBank Group Corp. has announced its commitment of US$3 billion to launch SoftBank Latin America Fund II, bringing its total regional investment to US$8 billion.
This exciting new initiative aims to support economic growth and development in Latin America. It will leverage Softbank’s innovative technologies and deep expertise to support the region’s entrepreneurs, enabling the development of new industries and jobs, and orchestrating a significant economic and social impact in Latin America.
SoftBank’s previous investments in the region
SoftBank Group Corp. had previously announced a $5 billion commitment to Latin America in 2016. This included the formation of SoftBank Innovation Fund (SIF), backed by SoftBank’s Vision Fund and its Brazilian telecoms unit, Claro, alongside SoftBank Latin America Ventures (SLAV), a partnership of Japanese and Brazilian venture funds to invest in cutting-edge companies in Brazil and other countries across Latin America.
Since then, Softbank has expanded its regional investments through debt and equity capital investments. Among these is a 2017 Series C financing round led by SIF in Rappi, one of Colombia’s leading delivery technology companies and other parts of Latin America. Additionally, SIF led a $1 billion Series F round for Tokyo-based mobile payments company MercadoLibre with participation from Qatar Holding LLC’s Vostok New Ventures, Banco Santander Brasil SA, Dell Technologies Capital and Microsoft Corp’s M12 venture fund – taking total funding to over $2 billion.
In 2018, SLAV became Brazilian-headquartered fintech bank Nubank’s largest shareholder after investing Br$450 million ($118 million) into the company’s series E fundraising round that reached a total of Br$570 million ($150 million). Later that year SLAV made further investments in Uruguay-based online brokerage firm FinTech Alpha – committing US$100 million worth of investment with Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID).
These investments demonstrate Softbank’s commitment to supporting innovative businesses driving economic growth in Latin America and promoting financial inclusion across the continent. The formation of SoftBank Latin Fund II extends this commitment – doubling down on the vision set out three years ago by Chairman Masayoshi Son that “Latin American startups have huge potential” as they become “global leaders”.
SoftBank’s commitment to long-term growth in the region
SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”) is committed to long-term growth in Latin America and has now confirmed a new US$3 billion investment commitment with its SoftBank Latin America Fund II (“Fund II”). SoftBank’s commitment to the region spans two other funds – SoftBank Latinoamérica I and Vision Fund I, the largest technology fund ever raised at US$93 billion. This brings the total commitment from SoftBank to Latin America to US$8 billion.
Fund II will seek investments in technology companies in the region that have potential for long-term growth to accelerate economic development in Latin America over the next decade. It is seeking deals with those businesses that recognize opportunities in digital collaboration, fintech, healthcare tech and commerce, AI, robotics and autonomous systems, digital marketing, online education, logistics infrastructure enhancement among many others.
The fund will also invest across Central and South America countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Perú Uruguay Venezuela and additional markets as needed. Passively backed by Japanese investors such as Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Orix Corporation, and publicly traded funds like Nomura Holding Americas Inc., this effort can provide significant financial support for local emerging companies interested in accessing global capital resources to grow their businesses quicker.
Through this second fund targeting the region, SoftBank reaffirms its commitment to providing value for customers and driving regional economic growth by investing into companies from Latin America who can use learnings from previous experiences throughout Asian economies connected through Vision Fund.