Japanese Investment behemoth Softbank is looking to reinforce its position in India’s technological sector. Softbank, which also channels its investments through Softbank Vision Fund has announced plans to set up an office in Mumbai and has also roped in Sumer Juneja as Country Head for India.
I’m delighted to welcome Sumer to the team; he will play a pivotal role in working with our existing portfolio companies as well as sourcing new opportunities on the ground. India represents an enormous addressable market comprising a young, tech-enabled population. I am excited by many of the opportunities we see there and look forward to announcing further investments in the coming months,
said Rajeev Misra, CEO, SoftBank Investment Advisors.
As a London School of Economics graduate, Sumer started off as an analyst for Goldman and Sachs and later became a founding member of the Goldman Sachs’ Asian Special Situations Group in India. He then cemented himself as a prolific Investor and since 2009, he’s been serving as the Director of Northwest Venture Partners, India. He lead NVP to quite a few highly lucrative investments. He drove investments into companies such as Swiggy, Quikr, Indusland Bank, Yes Bank, and National Stock Exchange.
Interestingly, Softbank initiated talks with Swiggy during November last year and just this May, they held similar talks with their arch-rivals, Zomato. While nothing has been finalized yet, with Sumer onboard, the Japanese firm could lock in an investment in either one of them. Softbank has so far invested about $ 8 Billion in India, out of which $ 5 Billion were in four of the biggest names in the Indian e-commerce space – hospitality company Oyo, digital payment platform Paytm, Insurance information providing site PolicyBazar and one of India’s top online retailers Flipkart.
According to reports, the $100-billion SoftBank Vision Fund was evaluating investments worth $200-250 million each in baby and mother care portal FirstCry and logistics player Delhivery. It may also invest $120-150 million hyperlocal grocery start-up Grofers. Softbank certainly looks to capitalize on the new wave Internet startups in the fastest growing digital economy of the world.
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