(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. is selling its early-stage venture capital arm SoftBank Ventures Asia Corp. after suffering billions of dollars in losses from failed startup bets.
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The Japanese tech investor said it plans to sell SoftBank Ventures Asia — which helped SoftBank scout promising startups over the last decade — to an entity led by Singapore-based Mistletoe founder Taizo Son, the younger brother of SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son.
The Seoul-based venture capital arm, which has about $2 billion in assets under management, has bought stakes in companies including South Korean car-sharing startup Socar Inc., Indonesian social commerce platform Super and Singapore-based online shopping rewards app ShopBack.
SoftBank Ventures Asia has made initial investments that later led to bigger deals by SoftBank’s billions-wielding Vision Fund, as in the case of Singapore-based used car marketplace Carro, in which SoftBank’s Vision Fund II led a $360 million investment in 2021. Other examples include Nigerian fintech app Opay, South Korea-based metaverse platform Zepeto and Japanese sneaker marketplace Soda Inc.
Taizo Son set up a new venture capital entity The Edgeof last month, which will acquire SoftBank Ventures Asia for an undisclosed sum by year-end, SoftBank said in a release on Wednesday. Mistletoe, the entrepreneur’s existing venture capital firm, will help the entity discover and support startups from the early to growth stages, it said.
The two brothers have partnered on deals in the past, with SoftBank buying Finnish gamemaker Supercell Oy in 2013 with funding from games maker GungHo Entertainment Inc., then led by the younger Son. The elder Son has also used SoftBank shares as collateral for loans to support Taizo Son’s business ventures.
The Japanese conglomerate, which has deployed more than $144 billion in hundreds of companies since 2017, reported a net loss of $5.9 billion in the December quarter after its Vision Fund segment shouldered big writedowns on money-losing startups.
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