Energy Vault, the creator of gravity-based, grid-scale energy storage solutions with its proprietary technology, has announced $100 million in Series C funding. The investment is being led by existing investor Prime Movers Lab, with additional participation from other existing investors including SoftBank Vision Fund, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, Helena, and Idealab X. In addition, the…
Indian-origin social commerce platform – Meesho has announced that the company had raised $300 million from SoftBank Vision Fund. Existing investors – Facebook, Prosus Ventures, Venture Highway, Shunwei Capital and Knollwood Investment also participated in the latest financing round of Meesho. Speaking on the investment, founder and CEO of Meesho – Vidit Aatrey said, “We are…
Getaround, the carsharing platform that empowers users to instantly access and drive cars nearby, announced a $140 million Series E financing from PeopleFund with new investors including Reid Hoffman’s and Mark Pincus’ Reinvent Capital, AmRest founder Henry McGovern, Pennant Investors, and VectoIQ partners Steve Girsky, Mary Chan, and Julia Steyn. Existing investors SoftBank Vision Fund,…
NVIDIA and SoftBank Group Corp (SBG) announced a definitive agreement under which NVIDIA will acquire Arm Limited from SBG and the SoftBank Vision Fund in a transaction valued at $40 billion. The combination brings together NVIDIA’s leading AI computing platform with Arm’s vast ecosystem to create the premier computing company for the age of artificial…
Chinese transportation company, DiDi recently announced that it has completed a $500mn fundraising round for its self-driving unit. The funding round was led by Masoyoshi Son-led SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. The ride hailing giant said in a statement that the round marked the first time DiDi’s self-driving business had brought in external funding since it…
Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp recently announced that Alibaba Co-Founder Jack Ma will resign from its board. Jack Ma’s resignation is the latest high-profile departure by an ally of SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Jack Ma resigned from the board as he is pulling back from formal business roles to focus solely on philanthropy. Earlier…
Grofers, a low-price online supermarket that provides grocery delivery, said that it is on track to rack up $60-$70 million in new funding, according to an ET report. Currently, the company has registered a major demand surge with more Indians shopping online for essentials amid a continued nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the…
The hospitality sector is one of the most affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. With travel of any kind coming to a halt and governments imposing lockdowns, companies in the sector are bracing for severe impact. Recently, there has been multiple reports about layoffs and furloughs in the industry by the companies to save cost.…
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted several jobs globally with nearly 10 mn people filing for unemployment benefits in America alone. The pandemic has forced businesses to close operations and employees have been sent on furloughs for indefinite periods. The International Labour Organization has predicted that globally around 2.5mn jobs would be lost due to the…
Food-delivery unicorn Zomato is reportedly in talks to acquire SoftBank-backed grocery startup Grofers. According to reports by The Economic Times and Entrackr, the all-stock deal might value the e-grocer at $750mn (around ₹5,700Cr). Reportedly, Softbank is considering investing about $100-$200mn in the merged entity through its VC arm Vision Fund. According to sources mentioned in…
Pune-based baby products marketplace Firstcry has recently raised $296mn (approx 2120Cr) in Series E funding from Japanese conglomerate Softbank’s Vision Fund. With the latest infusion of funds, Firstcry has entered the Unicorn Club. According to the company filing submitted to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, a Cayman Island-based subsidiary of Softbank SVF Frog has invested…
Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, who has been aggressively investing in the Indian start-up system, is reportedly considering buying a minority stake in Mahindra Electric Mobility. According to a Business Standard report, the two companies have begun preliminary talks for an alliance. Mahindra’s Electric Vehicle manufacturing arm is a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra, said a few…
SoftBank, a name we all are familiar with in the startup ecosystem. From setting up the world’s biggest investment fund “The SoftBank Vision Fund” to aggressively investing in tons of startups, SoftBank has established itself as a mark in the startup economy. But all is not going well with the brand. For the past few…
Michael Ronen, the U.S. Head of SoftBank Group’s $100 billion Vision Fund, is leaving after expressing concerns about “issues” at the technology conglomerate, as per a media report. In 2017, SoftBank Group launched the $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund and recruited Ronen from Goldman Sachs. As per the report Ronen has been negotiating the terms…
SoftBank India has appointed Manoj Kohli to head its business in India. The move comes after a nearly five-year stint as the chairman of the Japanese telecom and investment giant’s renewable energy business SB Energy. Manoj Kohli, the former Bharti Airtel executive, has an experience of over 40 years. He has headed Airtel’s international operations…