SoftBank Vision Fund loses massive $32 billion as tech startups bleed

Japanese investment giant SoftBank has posted a record $32 billion loss at its Vision Fund for the fiscal year that ended in March 2023, as funding winter continues amid global macroeconomic conditions.

As tech startups valuations continue to dip, the Vision Fund vertical posted a 4.3 trillion Japanese yen (about $32 billion) loss for its fiscal year.

"The fair value of a wide range of private portfolio companies also decreased, reflecting markdowns of weaker-performing companies and share price declines among market comparable companies," the company said in its earnings report on Thursday.

The SoftBank Vision Fund 1 and Vision Fund 2 made new and follow-on investments (including those through share exchanges) totalling $3.14 billion in the fiscal year, "a significant reduction from $44.26 billion in the previous fiscal year".

Overall, SoftBank posted a net loss of 970.14 billion yen for the fiscal year.

SoftBank has exited several startups and companies in the recent past, like in ride-hailing platform Uber, T-Mobile and Alibaba.

In India, SoftBank Group reduced its investments by around 84 per cent in 2022 in comparison to 2021.

In march this year, Softbank offloaded 3.8 per cent of its stake in fully-integrated logistics service provider Delhivery for Rs 954 crore.

Last month, the Japanese investment giant SoftBank sold one of its venture capital arms, SoftBank Ventures Asia (SBVA), to Singaporean investment firm The Edgeof, as VC funding remained scarce.

The acquisition comes after SoftBank and its Vision Fund registered huge financial losses amid the overall slump in the world of technology.

In February this year, SoftBank had posted a loss of nearly $6 billion in the quarter that ended in December.