On September 14, 2021, SoftBank Group Corp. launched a $3 billion fund to invest in technology companies in Latin America to consolidate the success of its first fund for the region.

The Japanese conglomerate said in a statement that it plans to invest in public and private technology companies, adding that the fund may raise more funds in the future. As SoftBank's renewed bet on Latin America comes, venture capital in countries such as Brazil and Mexico is booming. Masayoshi Son, Chairman of the SoftBank Group, said in a statement: "There is so much innovation and disruption in Latin America, and I believe the business opportunities there have never been as strong as they are now." Latin America is an important part of our strategy. .

SoftBank's first US$5 billion Latin American fund was launched in 2019 by Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Marcelo Claure (Marcelo Claure). At that time, no well-funded investors in the region had signed large checks for startups. It has invested US$3.5 billion in 48 companies in 48 sectors including education, finance and logistics, and is currently valued at US$6.9 billion. Most of its portfolio companies are still private.

However, the Bank International Bank (BancoInterSA) acquired by SoftBank when it went public and the e-commerce software platform VTEX that went public in July helped the fund to rise in the last quarter.

Keywords: overseas engineering, international engineering construction, foreign engineering construction news

Crower, the COO responsible for overseeing the new fund, said that the initial fund's rate of return has exceeded SoftBank's expectations.Editor/XuNing