Kazakhstan among investors in launching 2nd Vision Fund of Japanese SoftBank

AKIPRESS.COM - SoftBank of Japan has said it plans to launch a second Vision Fund, and will raise $108bn from investors including Microsoft, Standard Chartered and the sovereign wealth fund of Kazakhstan to invest in technology start-ups, Financial Times reported.
The Vision Fund II follows a splurge of investments in Uber, WeWork and other technology companies in a span of two years through its first $97bn fund, which was mainly backed by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.
The announcement on Friday came in a regulatory filing to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, in which SoftBank said it would commit $38bn to the new fund and had signed memorandums of understanding with other investors.
The Saudi and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds were not mentioned, but a spokesman for SoftBank said that talks were continuing with both parties about their eventual involvement.
SoftBank said Apple, Foxconn, and "major participants" from Taiwan had signed MOUs, as well as seven Japanese financial groups including the top three banks - Mizuho, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and MUFG Bank - and Dai-ichi Life Insurance and Daiwa Securities.
The new fund will target "market-leading, tech-enabled growth companies" to facilitate "the continued acceleration of the AI revolution" said SoftBank.