The Business Times
A few years ago, the entry of SoftBank’s Vision Fund into Asia heralded hope of a tech boom. But today, all eyes will be on how deep the Vision Fund’s losses run in SoftBank’s full-year results announcement, and whether there could be any rollover impact on its iconic portfolio companies in Asia, ranging from social media darling ByteDance to embattled hotel chain Oyo.
Last month, SoftBank revealed that it expects a massive 1.8 trillion yen (S$24.2 billion) loss in its US$100 billion Vision Fund for the year ended March, pushing the group into the red for the first time in 15 years.
James Tan, managing partner of Quest Ventures, added: “Concentration risk is real and founders will now be forced to de-risk themselves and their shareholders by diversifying their investor pool with more domain-knowledge investors for go-to-market challenges.”
