Search Result for : Softbank

The Dollar Business Bureau Japanese telecom giant SoftBank Group is in discussions with the Government of India for facilitating the use of solar energy for charging electric vehicles in India, a senior executive at the company’s local unit told a leading news agency.  The Indian government is planning to electrify all the vehicles in the coming 15 years, a step that can boost solar ambitions of SoftBank in India if the country adopts renewable energy for charging vehicles.  SoftBank has said that it will invest around $20 billion along with Bharti Enterprises and Foxconn Technology in solar projects in the country. The company estimates the electrification process could generate a requirement of more than 150 gigawatt of extra energy.  ...

PTI A London-based start-up co-founded by an Indian-origin entrepreneur has been valued at more than $1 billion after raising $ 502 million from Japan's SoftBank this week in one of the UK's largest venture capital deals. Improbable, a virtual reality tech firm, was co-founded by Herman Narula with a Cambridge University friend in 2012. SoftBank's investment in the firm, which uses cloud-based computing to create virtual worlds for use in games as well as large-scale simulations of the real world, is said to be the largest ever funds injection in a European tech start-up. "This investment will allow us to take the big, bold steps needed to fully realise our vision. This investment reflects the potential size and ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Softbank, the largest investor in Snapdeal is exploring options for a merger with Paytm. Currently, the Alibaba group has a 40% stake in Paytm, with investments close to $1 billion, and Softbank was one of the early investors in Alibaba. Market-pundits averred that the deal could go in for an equity exchange in the value of $1 bn, which meant that an all-stock merger of Snapdeal with Paytm was more probable. The Son led Softbank had earlier been mulling a possibility of a merger with Flipkart too. Conversations with the Bengaluru-headquartered Flipkart for strategic mergers have been in news for about three months now. There was also conversation with Tiger Global, the large investor in Flipkart, and trade ...

The Dollar Business Bureau After Flipkart roped in $1.4 billion funding from a consortium of private investors recently (eBay, Microsoft, and Tencent), Ola is the second struggling home-grown new-generation startup to avail a fresh capital of $250 million - $300 million from Japanese telecom major Softbank this year. As revealed by the filings in Registrar of companies, SIMI Pacific Pte, Softbank's subsidiary, has bought 12,97,945 shares at a premium of Rs 12,895 in ANI Technologies, the parent company of Ola. Struggling to overcome severe competition from American cab service provider Uber, market leader Ola's story is not very different from the face-off between Flipkart and Amazon. But the similarities between the two cases extend beyond the market dynamics, to include the involvement of the same global mega-investor Softbank. The Japanese backer of Ola, after ...

The Dollar Business Bureau In a new development that has surfaced in India's tumultuous e-commerce industry, Softbank is brokering a merger between arch rivals Flipkart and Snapdeal. Consolidation seems to be a logical step in an environment where no single player is able to decisively emerge successful. It was recently reported that Softbank, the single largest financial backer of Snapdeal, will assume a 15% stake in the combined entity. The Japanese telecom giant is to invest up to $1.5 billion in order to assume a significant partial ownership of the Flipkart-Snapdeal pie. Flipkart, India's indigenous e-tailing platform, fell from its all-time high valuation of $15.2 billion in 2015 to $10 billion in 2017, when it initiated a new round of fund-raising. The Indian Unicorn is said to have bagged $900 million ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Japanese multinational SoftBank Group Corp and Taiwanese electronics major Foxconn Technology Group, earlier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, said on Friday that they would together launch a joint venture, strengthening ties between Asia's two biggest technology companies. This move will provide Foxconn 54.5% stake in one of SoftBank's existing subsidiaries for about $600 million. This comes as the two groups increase investments in the technology segment and considering expansion in the US. As per the arrangement of the joint venture, a subsidiary of Foxconn will invest nearly $600 million in lieu of a majority holding in SoftBank Group’s arm, Capital Apac Pte Ltd. This arrangement will effectively transform what had been a fully-owned subsidiary of Softbank into a joint venture, the companies revealed in a statement. Softbank and ...

The Dollar Business Bureau  After reports of Softbank's plan to buy into the Vodafone-Idea merger hit Indian new sites, the Japanese giant responded by calling the media reports 'unsubstantiated' and 'baseless'. Dismissing the news of its involvement in the telecom merger, Softbank denied any participation.  "We would like to categorically deny SoftBank's participation in the alleged Vodafone-Idea Cellular merger in India. We underline that we have held no such discussions and media reports about the same are baseless and unsubstantiated," Softbank said in a written statement.  The telecom firm from Tokoyo, which has aggressively invested in tech ventures all over the world, following the e-commerce boom in 2000s, also has investments worth $2 billion in India. Snapdeal, India's highly discounted e-retailer; Ola, a cab service provider; Oyo, a new player in hospitality industry providing hotel ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Japanese telecommunications company, SoftBank, has written off the value of two of its biggest start-up investments in India. The company has marked down about $555 million in share value in investments in ANI Technologies, the owner of cab aggregator Ola, and Snapdeal owner Jasper Infotech.  Out of overall value, about half of the value written-off is the result of appreciation in Japanese currency against the other currencies.  In its report on consolidated income for the first six months of the current fiscal ended on September 30, SoftBank has winessed a loss of 58,140 million yen (around $557 mn) from its financial assets at the fair value, majorly on account of its funds invested in India. Out of this, a loss of 29,622 million yen ...