Every crisis is a godsend opportunity, SoftBank chief tries to inspire Indian founders

(L-R) OfBusiness founder Asish Mohapatra, Zeta founder Bhavin Turakhia, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CARS24 founder Vikram Chopra, ElasticRun founder Sandeep Deshmukh, FirstCry founder Supam Maheshwari, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal, OfBusiness founder Ruchi Kalra

During his short visit to India, SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son told founders of the fund’s portfolio companies that every crisis is a godsend opportunity to help come back stronger. This comes at a time when the Japanese fund has not made any new investments in the country this year amid a tech funding winter, and cut new investments in India by more than 84 percent in 2022.

According to people in the know, Son reiterated his faith in India while talking to as many as 10 founders on March 7. Moneycontrol accessed several pictures of the gathering and spoke with people with knowledge of what transpired in the meeting. FirstCry founder Supam Maheshwari, Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal, OfBusiness founders Asish Mohapatra and Ruchi Kalra, and Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy are some of the honchos who can be seen in the photos.

“He said that while SoftBank’s initial tech investments in the country around 2015 were made on the basis of his instincts, it has now turned into a core belief in India. He also said that India is poised to become one of the three biggest economies in the world,” said a source.

(L-R) Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, OfBusiness founders Ruchi Kalra and Asish Mohapatra, Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, FirstCry founder Supam Maheshwari

The company’s first set of major internet bets in India came in late 2014 and 2015 when it led and participated in massive rounds of funding in startups like Snapdeal, Ola, Oyo, Housing.com and Grofers. At the time, Son had declared that SoftBank would invest $10 billion in India over the years. As things stand, he has outdone his own commitment and invested around $15 billion in Indian companies so far, of which $11 billion have been in the last six years.

In his meeting with founders yesterday, Son also spoke about his ambitions for SoftBank. He said that it has just achieved 1 percent of his dream as yet and talked about his 300-year vision for the sprawling tech conglomerate, according to sources. He told the portfolio founders and CEOs in the gathering about how SoftBank is still in the entrepreneurial stage and always looking to reinvent itself.

FirstCry founder Supam Maheshwari (L) and Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal (R) sharing a lighter moment. In the background: Zeta founder Bhavin Turakhia (L) and CARS24 founder Vikram Chopra

SoftBank did not comment on the meeting.

With private market funding for tech getting constrained, Son urged the founders to become more resilient and re-prioritise what are the most important parts of their businesses.

“He asked them to figure out what is most needed and said that it was a good time to let their creative impulses come to the fore,” said another source.

Son’s visit to Delhi on Tuesday coincided with the wedding reception of OYO founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal where the who’s who of the corporate world were invited. The SoftBank chief also dropped by at the reception and is learnt to have spent 7-10 minutes there. He also met Airtel chief Sunil Mittal during the visit.

(L-R) OfBusiness founder Asish Mohapatra, CARS24 founder Vikram Chopra and OfBusiness founder Ruchi Kalra share a lighter moment as Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy looks on

During the couple of hours he spent with founders, he is understood to have chatted with Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal regarding the acquisition of Japanese eyewear brand Owndays in 2022. He also acknowledged the ‘roaring success’ of PayPay in Japan, a payments company that was formed as a joint venture between Paytm and SoftBank.

Later, Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma tweeted, "Ultimate joy today, seeing Masa smiling, happy and enjoying his India trip. Everyone of us had tons of gratitude for his belief and support given to our startups."

(L-R) SoftBank Vision Fund's Executive Managing Partner and CFO Navneet Govil, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and SoftBank India head Sumer Juneja

SoftBank has backed nearly a fifth of India’s over 100 unicorns, but invested about $500 million into Indian startups last year, down from over $3.2 billion it invested in the whole of 2021, according to data compiled by Moneycontrol. It also participated in only about six deals last year, compared to 17 in 2021.

Masayoshi Son with SoftBank India executives during his visit

Its average cheque size has also dropped to $83.3 million in the first 11 months of 2022, compared to over $185 million in the whole of 2021, the data showed. SoftBank has invested more than $11.2 billion in Indian companies since 2017 with its Vision Fund investment units. In 2017 itself, it invested more than $4.1 billion, and that too, across just three deals.