SoftBank is India’s biggest foreign investor, Masayoshi Son says

Reuters

SoftBank is India’s biggest foreign investor, its founder Masayoshi Son said, indicating the Japanese investment giant’s commitment to funding Indian companies in the past and in the future.

“I made a commitment to Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi to invest $5 billion in India. After 10 years SoftBank has already invested $14 billion,” Son said at the InFinity Forum, an event by the International Financial Services Centres Authority.

Amid India’s biggest startup funding boom yet, SoftBank has invested $3 billion in Indian internet companies this year alone, a fact Son acknowledged, and said that SoftBank is India’s biggest foreign investor.

Out of the 70 odd unicorns in India so far- private firms valued at over a billion dollars, SoftBank has provided 10% of the funding to all unicorns, Son said.

SoftBank’s investments in India this year include Swiggy, Zeta, Whatfix and OfBusiness among others. One of its largest investments Paytm went public this year, while others such as Oyo and Delhivery have filed their documents to go public soon

Rajeev Misra, CEO of SoftBank Investment Advisors and Son’s deputy, recently said that SoftBank could invest as much as $10 billion in India next year. SoftBank also promoted its India head Sumer Juneja to managing partner, one among 13 globally.