SoftBank Vision Fund Bounces Back Into Action

Last week, the SoftBank Vision Fund 2 co-led a massive $120 million round for drama-laden cybersecurity startup Cybereason. The deal was just the latest round for SoftBank’s famed Vision Fund unit — which during the dizzying heights of the venture boom around 2021 would regularly invest in 50-plus deals a quarter but in late 2023 went deadly silent.

However, it now looks like Vision Fund 2 is coming back strong. In the last nearly two quarters, the fund has participated in 13 funding rounds — many of them large and many of them involving artificial intelligence — per Crunchbase data.

The baker’s dozen of deals, which included funding big rounds for the likes of QuEra Computing, Helion Energy and Perplexity, are more than the fund participated in the previous four quarters combined. In the 12 months through Q3 2024, the fund only took part in 10 deals.

Back on track?

Of course, just three years ago, 13 deals in five-plus months for the Vision Fund — once known for shrewd investments in startups including Uber and DoorDash — would hardly have been news. In Q3 2021 alone, the Vision Fund participated in 66 rounds.

But that was a very different time for venture investing. Interest rates were low, money was basically free, and venture capitalists couldn’t keep their checkbooks in their pockets for longer than five minutes.

When the market came back to reality in 2022, SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son said it would pull back on investments as the Vision Fund suffered big losses.

The respite seemed destined not to last long. By mid-2023, Son told investors he would again shift from “defense mode” as the firm wanted to be a leader in AI and robotics.

However, as Son made investments directly from SoftBank, the Vision Fund stayed quiet. For the two-year period between Q3 2022 and Q3 2024, the fund took part in only 33 deals.

That was not all that surprising considering the fund continued to get markdowns. Just last month, in fact, SoftBank reported a net loss of nearly $2.4 billion for its fiscal third quarter, including a loss of about $2 billion for its once-heralded Vision Fund unit as shares of Coupang and Didi fell.

Regardless, late last year the fund started to spark back to life. In the final quarter of 2024, the fund made six investments including participating in AI-powered search startup Perplexity’s high-profile $500 million Series D in December.

That was not its only AI-related deal. The Vision Fund also took part in data center firm GDS International’s massive $1.2 billion Series B.

However, while AI has played a role in the fund’s comeback, it has not ignored other sectors. The fund took part in New York-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical startup Metsera’s $215 million Series B led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners and Wellington Management, as well as India-based Eruditus Executive Education’s $150 million Series F. The startup provides executive education programs.

The fund also made a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount in cloud security startup Wiz in November.

The new year

SoftBank has continued that investment cadence into 2025. Through early March, the Vision Fund made seven investments. Similar to Q4, the fund has taken part in some big rounds.

In January, it participated in the $100 million Series C for Seattle-based Umoja Biopharma, a developer of in vivo cell therapies, as well as a $200 million Series E for Spain-based business travel management platform TravelPerk.

The fund also co-led — along with Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sam Altman — the $425 million Series F for fusion startup Helion Energy. That round valued the energy startup at $5.4 billion, as investors look to pour cash into new energy sources as power needs increase due to AI and other advances.

Last month, the fund took part in Ireland-based no-code workflow automation platform Tines’ $125 million Series C, but co-led Boston-based neutral-atom quantum firm QuEra Computing’s $230 million convertible note offering along with Google Quantum AI.

What it means

Despite those deals, the fund likely will never jump back to its level of investment back in 2021.

However, it is interesting to note that even as some of the large crossover funds like Tiger Global Management and Dragoneer that helped lead the charge in venture in 2021 have yet to really come back to the industry, the Vision Fund seems more curious.

It is also interesting that while SoftBank itself seems laser focused on all things AI — OpenAI and the proposed $500 billion AI Stargate Project, for example — the Vision Fund has not narrowed its scope to just solely AI, but also deals in spaces such as biotech and cyber.

Of course, with the fund’s recent record, perhaps it would be wisest to keep its cash in its pockets. For startups, however, it may be exciting to see a larger investor re-emerging.

Related Crunchbase Pro list:

• SoftBank Vision Fund Investments 

Related reading:

• Eye On AI: As SoftBank Piles Up Losses, It Doubles Down On AI
• ​​SoftBank Vision Fund Hit With More Losses
• SoftBank’s Vision Fund Posts $1.7B Loss
• SoftBank May Invest Up To $25B Into OpenAI — Report

Illustration: Dom Guzman