New York: SoftBank Group Capital Ltd., an investment arm of Masayoshi Son’s technology empire, contributed $2bn to last month’s record fund-raising by Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing.
SBGC invested the money in Xiaoju Kuaizhi Inc., the formal name for Didi, according to a filing with the UK’s Companies House. In the previous month, it invested $150m in entities connected to investment bank Raine Group LLC, including its parent.
Didi’s $5.5bn funding last month was the latest to be backed by Son’s company as he seeks to find his next Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., an investment that has delivered a paper profit of about $85bn. Other investments made by SBGC include $300m in WeWork Cos., $63.5m in SB Energy Holdings Ltd. and $75m for Zymergen, a bio-technology company based in California, according to the filing.
Son has been trying to close the $100bn SoftBank Vision Fund to spearhead future technology investments. SoftBank Group Corp. has said it will contribute $25bn to the fund, Saudi Arabia is putting in $45bn and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Co. is said to plan investing as much as $15bn. Apple Inc., Qualcomm Inc. and Oracle Corp. Chairman Larry Ellison may invest $1bn each, people familiar with the matter have said.
