After a few quarters of going turtle, SoftBank has started ramping up its investing cadence once again.
Once one of the most active and visible investors in Startup Land, the Japanese conglomerate is itching to get back into the fray, unlike some other investors that spent heavily only to retreat from the hurly-burly of the private markets.
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Given the ups and downs of SoftBank’s startup deals, some of which made headlines for imploding, you might think that the conglomerate would want to wait and see how its less-mature Vision Fund 2 performs in today’s somewhat turbulent economic conditions.
Well, you’d be wrong: After posting a profit of sorts on its Vision Fund efforts, SoftBank more than doubled its investments in the quarter ended June 30.
Image Credits: SoftBank.
In its investor presentation, SoftBank described its posture towards the market as “shifting to offense mode.” For a company that reported a consolidated loss of 699 billion Yen (approaching $4.9 billion) on its investments in the quarter, that’s pretty bold. It’s also exactly why SoftBank is such a fun company — and investor — to track.
For example, SoftBank proudly noted that its investing losses from Vision Fund investments have slowed dramatically in recent months: