SoftBank Group

Venture capital firm
Tokyo, JapanFounded 1981group.softbank/enSee connections →

At a glance

SoftBank Group appears in 3 funding rounds tracked by ValueAddVC since 2024, leading 2. Its most frequent sector in these rounds is AI & Infrastructure, and its most recent tracked deal was OpenAI's $122B round (Mar 31, 2026). It co-invests most often with Microsoft, Altimeter Capital and MGX. ValueAddVC also tracks 1 fund managed by SoftBank Group.

Strategy

Geographies
Tokyo, Japan

Recent changes

  1. Mar 31, 2026Follow-on: Invested in OpenAI ($122B) TechCrunch
  2. Mar 31, 2025Follow-on: Invested in OpenAI ($40B) TechCrunch
  3. Oct 2, 2024Invested in OpenAI ($6.6B) TechCrunch
  4. Jan 1, 2021New fund: SoftBank Group Fund I ($100M) Value Add VC funds tracker

Funds

1
FundVintageSizeStrategySource
SoftBank Group Fund I2021$100MFlagship
As of 2021Value Add VC funds tracker

Portfolio

5 total

Recent Investment Activity

3

Track record: led 2 and participated in 1 of 3 tracked venture rounds · 1 in the last 12 months

Sector / Stage Activity

By sector (portfolio)
AI infra
2 · 40%
Robotics
1 · 20%
Energy
1 · 20%
Consumer
1 · 20%

Co-Investors

12

Similar Firms

overlapping sector, stage or region

Latest Pulse

  1. SoftBank Weighs $18B Buyout Of Allied UniversalSoftBank is weighing an $18 billion acquisition of security staffing giant Allied Universal, Bloomberg reported, extending Masayoshi Son's AI robotics push into physical labor.→
  2. SoftBank's Son Seeks $100B From Gulf States For AI FundMasayoshi Son is in early talks to raise up to $100 billion from Gulf sovereign investors for a fund that would buy and upgrade companies with AI, as SoftBank's own AI bets strain its balance sheet.→
  3. Nvidia, SoftBank Add $20B To OpenAI's RoundNvidia and SoftBank are putting in a final $20 billion to close out OpenAI's latest funding round, deepening two of its most consequential investor relationships ahead of a paused IPO.→
  4. SoftBank Sells $11B In Junk Bonds To Fund OpenAI BetSoftBank launched an offering of more than $11 billion in dollar- and euro-denominated notes to fund its OpenAI investment, a deal that would be the largest non-financial corporate bond ever sold out of Asia Pacific and Japan.→
  5. SoftBank Pays Off $25.9B Of Its OpenAI Bridge Loan EarlySoftBank is repaying the remaining $25.9 billion balance on the $40 billion bridge loan that financed its OpenAI stake, six months ahead of the March 2027 maturity, shifting the debt behind its biggest-ever bet to longer-term financing.→
  6. SoftBank's Payoff Shows Who's Really Financing The AI BoomSoftBank refinancing its OpenAI bridge loan with bonds and margin loans, not IPO proceeds, is more evidence that debt -- not venture equity -- has become the financing engine of the AI infrastructure buildout.→
  7. SB Energy Amends S-1 for a $439B Backlog ListingSoftBank's data center and power arm filed an amended registration statement on September 4 as it moves toward a Nasdaq debut under SBE, with Nvidia committing $1.5 billion at the IPO price.→
  8. SB Energy Files IPO, Warns It's Tied to OpenAISoftBank-backed SB Energy filed for a US IPO warning investors it is substantially dependent on OpenAI, which is both its largest tenant and an equity holder.→
  9. SoftBank Goes Back for a Second $10B OpenAI LoanSoftBank is seeking another $10 billion loan against its OpenAI stake, just three weeks after its first margin loan closed, pushing its OpenAI-linked borrowing past $50 billion for the year.→
  10. SoftBank in Talks for Majority Stake in 1X at $6BSoftBank is in talks to buy a majority stake in 1X Technologies, the OpenAI-backed humanoid robot maker, at a $6 billion valuation, extending Masayoshi Son's robotics buying spree following its Boston Dynamics exit.→
  11. SoftBank Puts $200M Into Gravis Robotics at $1BSoftBank sole-invested $200 million into Gravis Robotics, a 75-person ETH Zurich spinout that retrofits excavators with autonomy kits, at a $1 billion valuation -- what the company calls the largest Series A in construction-robotics history.→
  12. Gravis Robotics Lands $200M From SoftBank AloneSoftBank invested $200 million in Gravis Robotics, a Zurich startup that retrofits excavators with autonomous software, in what the company calls the largest Series A in construction-robotics history.→
  13. Nvidia Backs $105B OpenAI Data Center in OhioNvidia will guarantee up to $105 billion in financing for the first phase of OpenAI's Ohio data center, a 4.25-gigawatt site built and operated by SoftBank's SB Energy under a 20-year lease.→
  14. SoftBank Borrows $10B Against Its OpenAI BetSoftBank secured a $10 billion margin loan against its OpenAI shares the same quarter an $8.2 billion Intel stake gain carried its earnings beat, while OpenAI itself contributed no investment gain at all.→
  15. SoftBank Jumps as Asia Tech Tracks AI RallySoftBank shares surged more than 10% as Asian tech stocks tracked a strong Wall Street rally, with Arm's chip royalty optimism and gains at SK Hynix and Samsung all contributing.→
  16. SoftBank Surges 14% as Asia Tech RalliesSoftBank jumped nearly 14% and the KOSPI and Nikkei both rose more than 3.6% as Asian tech stocks tracked Wall Street's record-setting AI-fueled session.→
  17. Chip Rout Goes Global as Kioxia, SoftBank Slide in AsiaA third day of chip-stock selling spread to Asia, with Kioxia down nearly 8%, SoftBank off more than 6%, and Tokyo Electron down almost 5% after SK Hynix missed second-quarter estimates, even as Samsung posted a record quarter the same morning.→
  18. Nvidia Weighs $250B Guarantee For OpenAI's Ohio CampusNvidia is negotiating a roughly $250 billion financing guarantee to help OpenAI lease SoftBank's planned 10-gigawatt Ohio data center, on top of a separate $350 billion chip-financing discussion.→
  19. Nvidia In Talks For $250B OpenAI Data Center BackstopNvidia is reportedly negotiating to guarantee roughly $250 billion in lending so OpenAI can lease a 10-gigawatt SoftBank-built data center campus in Piketon, Ohio, with total project financing potentially exceeding $500 billion.→
  20. AI Chip Trade Wobbles as SoftBank, Asia Semis SlideA steep global tech selloff hit AI chip stocks hardest, with SoftBank falling over 9% and Asian semiconductor names tracking a Wall Street rout, as investors questioned whether AI infrastructure spending has outrun near-term demand.→
  21. SoftBank's CEO Isn't Alone in Doubting Elon Musk's Orbital Data Center HypeAs Elon Musk pitches data centers in orbit to power the next wave of AI compute, skepticism is mounting -- and SoftBank's Masayoshi Son, himself one of AI's biggest spenders, is among the doubters. Critics question the physics, economics and cooling realities of running AI clusters in space, casting the idea as visionary marketing more than near-term infrastructure.→
  22. Hyundai Takes Full Control of Boston Dynamics, Buying Out SoftBank for $325MHyundai Motor Group is buying SoftBank's remaining ~9.65% stake in Boston Dynamics for $325 million, completing its takeover of the Waltham, Massachusetts robotics company and turning it into a wholly owned subsidiary. The move closes out the put option SoftBank retained when Hyundai bought 80% control in 2021, and hands the automaker undivided ownership of the world's most famous humanoid-robotics brand just as physical AI becomes a venture and corporate obsession.→

SoftBank Group FAQ

What companies has SoftBank Group invested in?

SoftBank Group's portfolio includes OpenAI, SB Energy, Agility Robotics, Perplexity, Shein.

Who does SoftBank Group co-invest with most?

In the rounds Value Add tracks, SoftBank Group most often invests alongside Nvidia (3 shared deals), SoftBank Group (2 shared deals), Accel (1 shared deal), Advent International (1 shared deal), Alpha Wave Global (1 shared deal).

Sources & methodologyshow
Where these figures come from

Figures are labelled Reported (a source states it), Estimated, Derived (computed from other facts) or Rumored (in talks / unconfirmed). Rumors never replace a confirmed figure. Each figure keeps its own as-of date; history is preserved rather than overwritten.

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