A hopping $108 Billion Vision Fund Aimed To Push AI

With the vision of technology to drive through AI, SoftBank Group Corp announced, it has secured memoranda of understandings (MOUs) for about $108 billion (£86.7 billion), This second Vision Fund aimed at investing in technology firms including Apple and Microsoft.

SoftBank Group itself plans to invest $38 billion in the fund, it said in a statement. Other companies expected to participate include Foxconn Technology Group, Mizuho Bank , Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, and MUFG Bank Ltd. This investment will accelerate to all these sectors, including ride-hailing and autonomous driving, insurance and health care, which are SoftBank’s investment portfolio.

The second fund’s investor base reflects diversification beyond the Middle East that provided most of the first $100 billion fund’s outside capital as SoftBank touts industry-beating returns. Other participants in the second fund will include the National Investment Corporation of National Bank of Kazakhstan, Standard Chartered Bank PLC, undisclosed parties from Taiwan and the fund’s own managers.

“The objective of the fund is to facilitate the continued acceleration of the AI revolution through investment in market-leading, tech-enabled growth companies,” SoftBank . The report further said, they are still adding and talking to more potential investors and that the fund was expected to grow.

The first Vision Fund launched two years ago with $60 billion in backing from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. It has already burned through much of its capital with investments in over 80 late-stage tech startups.

The result can be seen, there wee several start-ups start to beat their rivals and push them out of the market, mainly because — and only after — they receive investment and backing from SoftBank.