SUMMARY
The fair value of SoftBank India’s investment portfolio across vision fund I and II is up by 9% as of December 2023
SoftBank turned profitable for the first time in five quarters with a net profit of over $6 Bn for the three months ended December, aided by a stock rally in listed firms from vision fund I
The two vision funds have pumped in $11 Bn into Indian companies since November 2018 and had already clocked exits worth $6.2-$6.5 Bn as of early January this year
The fair value of SoftBank India’s investment portfolio across vision fund I and II stands at nearly $14 Bn, up by 9% as of December 2023, according to a presentation from the Japanese investor during its earnings release.
Ecommerce giant Flipkart is among its top 15 most valued companies, the presentation showed.
SoftBank turned profitable for the first time in five quarters with a net profit of over $6 Bn for the three months ended December, aided by a stock rally in listed firms from vision fund I. The investor made a full exit from Zomato and Policybazaar during the year along with PhonePe — which was part of the dividend payout from the Flipkart investment.
The two vision funds have pumped in $11 Bn into Indian companies since November 2018 and had already clocked exits worth $6.2-$6.5 Bn as of early January this year.
Both the vision funds registered a combined gain of $3.6 Bn in the October-December period, the third consecutive quarter of being in the black, amid early signs of recovery in tech stocks .
The vision fund I gained $1.9 Bn and the vision fund II of $1.7 Bn during the quarter.
In the September quarter, the two funds cumulatively gained around $300 Mn in value. While fund I recorded gains of $2.4 Bn, fund II logged a loss of $2.1 Bn.
The investor has backed around 30 companies in the country to date from its two vision fund investment units. Of these, more than 20 are unicorns or startups with over $1 Bn in valuation.
Navneet Govil, executive managing partner and CFO, SoftBank Vision Fund, said India is among its best performing markets and “we are very bullish about it.” There is a healthy pipeline of portfolio companies in terms of IPO over the next one-two years after firms like FirstCry and Ola Electric filed draft IPO papers in December, he added.
OfBusiness, Lenskart, Swiggy are among the SoftBank-backed firms that are looking to go public over the next 12-18 months.
Last month, it was reported that SoftBank is preparing itself to invest in Indian startups again, after a dry spell of nearly 18 months.
Although, the Japanese investment major had earlier adopted a wait-and-watch strategy, but, now, it is actively looking to invest in new-age companies and strengthen its portfolio in the Indian market.
SoftBank which usually invests over $100 Mn per round will continue to do so, particularly in growth-stage investments.
Having funded nearly a fifth of India’s 100+ unicorns (startups with valuations exceeding $1 Bn), SoftBank has invested a total of $15 Bn in India.
Meanwhile, SoftBank Group Corp sold a majority of its stake in Paytm before regulatory scrutiny caused the once-celebrated fintech firm’s shares to dive, according to the Vision Fund’s executive managing partner, as per a Bloomberg report.
