Tag: Softbank

SoftBank reports second quarter of profit as AI lifts shares

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SoftBank Group Corp. reported its second straight quarter of profitability as the Japanese tech investor benefited from an artificial intelligence investment boom that has buoyed assets like Arm Holdings Plc.

The Tokyo-based company earned a better-than-expected net income of 231.1 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in the March quarter, compared with a net loss of 57.6 billion yen, helped by investment gains at the holding company and on derivative contracts. For the full year, SoftBank reported a narrower net loss of 227.7 billion yen, beating expectations.

The Vision Fund reported a surprise loss of 96.7 billion yen, as it marked down a series of valuations in the second Vision Fund’s portfolio of hundreds of unlisted startups. That accounted for about 54 billion yen in realised and unrealised losses on the likes of JD Logistics Inc., Better Holdco Inc., DingDong Ltd. and AutoStore Holdings Ltd.

“The Arm IPO and share price rally were notable positives,” said Satoru Kikuchi, a senior analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities, in a note ahead of the earnings. “Our focus is on strategic investments directed by SoftBank Group rather than diversified investments like Vision Fund 2.”

SoftBank is trying to regain its footing as Son considers sizable investments in artificial intelligence and semiconductors, part of a push to maximise Arm’s potential beyond mobile devices. The Vision Fund has steadily sold off or written down billions of dollars’ worth of its publicly-listed holdings in recent years as Son realigns his focus. That’s helped lift SoftBank’s cash pile to 6.2 trillion yen at the end of March.

In recent months, SoftBank has stepped up investments in AI-related hardware, taking controlling stakes in some cases. The Japanese investment firm is in talks to acquire British semiconductor startup Graphcore Ltd., Bloomberg reported. Earlier this month, SoftBank led a $1.05 billion funding round for UK self-driving startup Wayve Technologies Ltd., investing along with Nvidia and existing backer Microsoft Corp. In 2022, a SoftBank blank-check firm merged with robotics warehouse automation firm Symbotic Inc., and the two firms have since partnered on projects.

The heavily indebted company is also fighting the prospect of rising interest rates. On the group level, SoftBank booked 982.2 billion yen foreign currency-denominated borrowings in the March quarter.

SoftBank’s attempts to leverage Arm technology and invest in AI services could be well-received by the market, SMBC’s Kikuchi said. To increase funds for investment, SoftBank could offload its holdings in T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, or Arm. In the past, SoftBank has sold off stakes in assets such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to finance new forays and also shore up its balance sheet and buy back shares.

“What I want to know is their stance on investing, in addition to how strong the earnings recovery actually turns out to be,” said Tomoaki Kawasaki, a senior analyst at Iwaicosmo Securities. “After holding back on investments for a while, they’ve been hinting that they could turn active again.”

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SoftBank sells off Vision Fund assets as Masayoshi Son pivots to AI, chips

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SoftBank Group Corp.’s flagship Vision Fund has quietly sold off or written down billions of dollars’ worth of its publicly-listed holdings in recent years, a sign of founder Masayoshi Son’s shift away from the venture capital deals that were once an obsession and toward strategic investments in semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

Since the end of 2021, the world’s biggest startup fund has seen its US-listed portfolio shrink by almost $29 billion, as it sold down stakes in companies such as Coupang Inc., DoorDash Inc. and Grab Holdings Ltd. and share prices fell, regulatory filings show. That figure doesn’t include the sale of the Vision Fund’s stake in chip designer Arm Holdings Plc back to SoftBank last year. The one-time tech kingmaker is now a shadow of its former self, having laid off more than a hundred staff and slowed new investments to a fraction of its past pace.

Son is selling off assets from the fund’s portfolio as he prepares for possible forays into AI and related hardware, said people familiar with the billionaire’s thinking. SoftBank’s equity capital market team — a group of traders from the likes of Goldman Sachs — has played a central role in monetising the Vision Fund’s sizable stakes with minimal market disruption, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing matters that are private.

Many of the investments led by the SoftBank chairman now bypass the Vision Fund and are orchestrated by the holding company. While Son long teased the possibility of a series of Vision Funds launched every two to three years, the prospect of a third Vision Fund — let alone a fourth — no longer comes up, said the people.

Instead, the fund’s reduced staff are mostly caretakers. The equity capital market team is instrumental in detecting the most opportune moments for assets sales, at times through block trades on secondary markets, the people said. They are concentrating on locking in investment gains and reversing any losses.

Son has moved on to new obsessions, inspired in part by the success of Arm. The chip designer’s market value has soared to around $106 billion since its market debut last year, making SoftBank’s 90% holding worth more than all of SoftBank.

One possible Son project on the horizon: bankrolling a $100 billion chip venture to compete with Nvidia Corp. and supply semiconductors to power the development of AI services. The 66-year-old’s plans remain in flux, the people said.

The SoftBank asset sale disclosures come from 13F filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and represent only the fund’s US-listed companies. That comprises about half of its publicly-listed portfolio firms by fair value. The Vision Fund also has been gradually selling down stakes in Indian startup Paytm and China’s SenseTime Group Inc., with SoftBank now owning less than 5% of either firm.

In terms of SoftBank’s overall net asset value, which subtracts liabilities, the Vision Fund contributed 7.3 trillion yen ($47 billion) at the end of December compared with about 9.5 trillion yen at the end of 2021. Arm’s contribution by the same measure came to 6.1 trillion yen at end-December.

A SoftBank representative declined to comment.

Strategy Shift

Seven years from the Vision Fund’s launch ceremony in Riyadh, the Tokyo-based investor has little to show from a push that directed billions of dollars’ worth of Saudi and Abu Dhabi sovereign funds into young tech firms. The experiment helped fuel a global surge in valuations that burst when Son’s exuberance met reality.

A series of high-profile implosions ensued, including those of WeWork Inc., Katerra Inc. and Zume Pizza Inc., damaging Son’s reputation and increasing his personal debts to the company.

SoftBank’s shift in strategy also reflects a reset in the broader venture capital market. The two Vision Funds and the Latin America funds together managed committed capital of more than $160 billion, by far the largest pot of startup capital ever collected. Staff initially went on the hunt for promising companies requiring investments of a minimum $100 million — more money than many young companies wanted or could spend effectively.

“SoftBank got fairly overextended into some early-stage companies where maybe they thought capital could be the real differentiator in the market,” Matt Murphy, a partner a Menlo Ventures. “That often didn’t work out well. Sometimes it did.”

The startup field has grown more conservative in recent years. VCs and companies have recognised the dangers of too much money.

“I don’t think there’s as much demand for that amount of capital in the market right now,” he said.

Accelerating Sales

Asset sales by the Vision Fund have been accelerating, according to SEC filings. Since the end of 2021, SoftBank divested sizable stakes in Coupang, but more than a quarter of the transaction volume has taken place this year. It’s also continued to sell down its stakes in Grab and DoorDash, and has fully exited from Uber Technologies Inc. and India’s Zomato Ltd.

At the same time, the Vision Fund sold back to SoftBank the 25% stake in Arm it obtained in lieu of $8.2 billion of SoftBank’s capital commitment. Cambridge, UK-based Arm, whose power-saving chip designs are used in virtually all mobile devices worldwide, went public in September.

In recent months, SoftBank is directly investing in companies it sees as strategically important, in some cases, taking controlling stakes. The Japanese investment firm is in talks to acquire British semiconductor startup Graphcore Ltd., Bloomberg reported. Earlier this week, SoftBank led a $1.05 billion funding round for UK self-driving startup Wayve Technologies Ltd., investing along with Nvidia and existing backer Microsoft Corp. In 2022, a SoftBank blank-check firm merged with robotics warehouse automation firm Symbotic Inc., and the two firms have since partnered on projects.

Past deals have included acquisitions of US carrier Sprint, as well as Vodafone Group Plc’s Japan operations and Yahoo Inc.’s stake in then-Yahoo Japan. The Sprint acquisition led to a boost in SoftBank’s stake in T-Mobile last year, the result of an agreement struck when T-Mobile bought Sprint in 2020.

“The Vision Fund has been a prolific seller”

For all but one of the past seven quarters, the total value of disposals at the Vision Fund has outweighed that of investments, the company’s earnings reports show. In the December quarter, the Vision Fund divested $2.2 billion of its assets while spending $90 million on investments.

That’s helped lift SoftBank’s cash pile to 6.2 trillion yen, up from 4.6 trillion yen at the end of 2021. The second Vision Fund still has around $6 billion to spend, but in practice, the money is Son’s to direct as he pleases, since the second Vision Fund has no external partners, the people familiar with the fund’s management said.

Kirk Boodry, an analyst at Astris Advisory, estimates the two Vision Funds sold at least $6 billion worth of their holdings in the fiscal year ended March. The first Vision Fund has sold at least $5 billion since Sept. 24, he said.

“The Vision Fund has been a prolific seller since September,” he said. “A growing cash pile could point to a deeper pivot to generative AI.”

The SEC filings also do not reflect sales or bankruptcies of unlisted companies in which SoftBank has invested. The Vision Funds together have invested in hundreds of startups, the majority of which remain privately held. The fund’s withdrawal from big new startup investments and generous follow-ons is contributing to a drought in global venture capital.

Some of the Vision Fund portfolio companies that have gone under this year include window-maker View Inc. and genetic-testing company Invitae Corp.

“No doubt, Vision Fund had an impact on startup valuations in 2020-2021,” Boodry said. “Those days are not coming back.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Arm shares fall after company gives tepid annual forecast

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Arm Holdings Plc shares tumbled after the chip designer gave a lukewarm revenue forecast for the fiscal year, raising concerns that the tech industry’s artificial intelligence spending spree is slowing.

For fiscal 2025, which ends next March, revenue will be $3.8 billion to $4.1 billion, the company said Wednesday. Profit will be $1.45 to $1.65 a share. Analysts were predicting a total of $4.01 billion — representing a gain of 26% — and a profit of $1.53 a share.

The shares dropped as much as 10% to $95.25 in late trading after the report was released. Three months ago, an upbeat forecast sent its shares soaring and helped turn the company into an AI darling on Wall Street. The stock was up 41% this year through Wednesday’s close.

Arm’s chip designs and licensed standards already serve as critical technology for most smartphones. Under Chief Executive Officer Rene Haas, the UK-based company is trying to parlay that position into a bigger presence in data center hardware — where AI demands are spurring major upgrades. As part of that push, Arm is offering more complete technology blueprints to companies such as Amazon.com Inc.’s AWS.

In an interview, Haas said Arm remains “very confident in the long-term growth.”

“A lot of the strategies we put in place a couple of years ago are all coming together,” he said.

The company believes it will post a revenue growth rate of at least 20% in fiscal 2026 and 2027, Chief Financial Officer Jason Child said on a conference call with analysts.

Sales will be $875 million to $925 million in the June quarter, the chip designer said. That compares with an average analyst estimate of $868 million. Earnings per share, minus certain items, will be 32 cents to 36 cents. Wall Street was projecting 31 cents.

In the fiscal fourth quarter, ended in March, revenue was $928 million. Excluding some items, profit was 36 cents a share. That compares with average estimates of $880.4 million and earnings of 30 cents a share.

Arm has an unusual role in the semiconductor industry. It licenses the fundamental set of instructions that software uses to communicate with chips. The company also provides so-called design blocks that companies such as Qualcomm Inc. use to build their products.

Arm has been moving toward providing more complete layouts that can be taken directly to the manufacturing stage. That shift makes it more of a competitor for customers like Qualcomm, but more valuable to others — most notably, large data center owners.

Cambridge, England-based Arm is still 90%-owned by SoftBank Group Corp., which acquired the business in 2016 for $32 billion. An initial public offering in 2023 raised $4.9 billion, marking the biggest debut on a US exchange that year.

Arm’s licensing sales increased 60% to $414 million last quarter, and royalty revenue gained 37% to $514 million.

The licensing revenue is a proxy for “R&D and for confidence in investment” by tech companies, Haas said.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Tiger Global, SoftBank set to end funding winter with $300 million round in Meesho

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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E-commerce platform Meesho is set to raise $300 million from a clutch of investors that includes Tiger Global and SoftBank, two of the world’s most prolific technology investors that have shied away from investing in India for nearly 18 months now. At least three sources familiar with the development told Moneycontrol that existing and other investors, such as Peak XV Partners and Mars Growth Capital, will also participate in the round.

Not only will the large ticket round — a rarity during the current funding environment — mark the return of Tiger Global in India, but also be the investor’s first major round since Scott Shleifer, head of private equity, abruptly stepped down in November last year. Once complete, Meesho’s $300-million round will be among the very few large rounds that have materialised over the last 12 months.

Meesho’s latest round is being led by Tiger Global and Peak XV Partners, which are together putting in $150 million, one of the people cited above said. It is also understood that Peak XV, along with some of its limited partners (LPs), is likely to pump in $70 million, the source added.

While Tiger is a new investor in Meesho, Peak XV is an existing backer that had first invested in the e-commerce firm in 2018.

The current round values Meesho at $3.9 billion, 20% lower than $4.9 billion valuation it commanded during its previous fundraise in 2021. The reduction in value comes after Fidelity cut Meesho’s valuation to $3 billion, Moneycontrol reported in January.

The remaining $150 million will come from SoftBank, which is infusing $30 million, Singapore’s Mars Growth Capital, UK’s Think Ventures, and other investors. While SoftBank is an existing investor and will put in more money to retain its stake in the company, Mars and Think will be funding Meesho for the first time.

“Meesho is in the process of flipping its base back to India from Delaware and a bulk of the fresh capital will be used to pay the relevant taxes ahead of its planned IPO,” a second person cited above said.

This is similar to the $1 billion that Walmart-owned PhonePe paid while flipping its base from Singapore to India in January 2023 ahead of its IPO.

Meesho’s $300 million round will largely consist of primary capital but also have a small portion of secondaries which will be used to buy out early investors. Venture Highway, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Y Combinator are a few of Meesho’s early backers, as per Tracxn, a private markets data provider, sources told Moneycontrol.

Tiger Global, SoftBank, Peak XV, and Think Ventures did not reply to Moneycontrol’s email seeking details. Meesho declined to comment citing its internal policy.

Strategic timing

Meesho’s fundraise comes at a time when rival Flipkart has already received $600 million from parent Walmart as part of a larger $1 billion round. Even US-based Amazon infused $100 million into its India entity in February 2024 as companies look to grab a bigger piece of the e-commerce pie.

Requiring fresh capital for tax-related purposes and not to extend its cash runway is understandable as Meesho has been profitable for a few months now. It reported a profit of ₹4-5 crore in July 2023 and has largely remained profitable since then, CFO Dhiresh Bansal had said earlier.

The turnaround was after the company had already shown an improvement in FY23. In the previous fiscal year, Meesho halved its losses to ₹1,675 crore from ₹3,251 crore in FY22. At the same time, the company said its revenue from operations grew 77% from ₹3,232 crore in FY22 to ₹5,735 crore in FY23, as existing customers transacted more on the platform and monetisation efforts yielded desired results during the year.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SoftBank shares soar another 10% after Arm’s stock rises 48%

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SoftBank Group Corp. shares surged again a day after soaring to their highest finish in two and a half years, bolstered by a continued upward climb in its crown jewel asset, Arm Holdings Plc.

Arm surged 48% as artificial intelligence spending helped bolster the chip designer’s forecast. Chief Executive Officer Rene Haas said on Bloomberg Television that the opportunities presented by AI are just beginning to be recognized.

SoftBank shares rose as much as 10% in Tokyo trading on Friday. The stock gained 11% on Thursday after Arm reported its financial results, closing at the highest level since July 2021.

SoftBank owns about 90% of Arm and founder Masayoshi Son has pledged to explore ways to use Arm’s chip designs as he pursues AI-related investments. The Tokyo-based company reported its first profit after four quarters of losses on Thursday, with its Vision Fund also logging a profit in the December quarter.

“Arm’s results, while singularly impressive, were part of a diverse combination of tailwinds stemming from SoftBank’s AI, telecom, and broader tech portfolio,” Macquarie analysts Paul Golding and Emma Liang wrote in a note.

“The remaining question now is on net new investments, whether cash will or can be deployed in the context of quickly rising AI valuations, and high-quality criteria for investing from management’s perspective,” the note said.

New investment activity by the second Vision Fund dwindled to $90 million, a fraction of the billions that SoftBank used to wield in the startup space. Bets on startups have been outpaced by exit activity in recent quarters.

“New investments are crucial to sustain its profit recovery,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Marvin Lo. “Results are good in general. The only concern I have is that the company might be struggling to find good AI investment opportunities, echoed by a decline in investment value.”

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SoftBank Vision Fund sold down Paytm stake before shares plunged

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SoftBank Group Corp. sold a majority of its stake in Paytm before regulatory scrutiny caused the once-celebrated Indian fintech firm’s shares to dive, according to the Vision Fund’s executive managing partner.

The Tokyo-based tech investor saw uncertainty growing in India’s regulatory environment, as well as over Paytm Payments Bank Ltd.’s license, Navneet Govil told Bloomberg News on Thursday.

“We felt it was prudent to start monetizing,” the Vision Fund’s finance chief said. “We’re glad we did a good portion of Paytm before the recent stock correction.”

SoftBank has been offloading Paytm shares regularly since at least November 2022 through last month, according to a Bloomberg analysis of company filings. The Japanese investor’s stake in Paytm was around 5% as of January, compared with a roughly 18.5% stake around the time of the payments company’s initial public offering in 2021.

Govil declined to comment on what SoftBank would do with its remaining stake.

Paytm has fielded multiple warnings from regulators over the last two years about dealings between its popular payments app and is banking arm, Bloomberg News had reported earlier. The Reserve Bank of India has suspended much of the banking operation’s business, sending Paytm’s stock price down more than 40% from its January peak.

SoftBank earlier reported its first profit following four quarters of losses, with its Vision Fund also logging a profit in the December quarter. New bets by the startup investment arm have dwindled to a fraction of the billions it once wielded and have been outpaced by exit activity, however.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Startup Digest: Zomato posts ₹138 crore Q3 profit, SoftBank posts first profit in five quarters and more

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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RBI on Paytm crackdown: Supervisory action, restrictions proportionate to gravity of situation

The Reserve Bank has said the action against Paytm was taken due to the fintech firm’s ‘persisted non-compliance’ with regulatory norms.

When CNBC-TV18 asked if the central bank would consider extending the February 29 deadline when Paytm Payments Bank will not be able to accept deposits or top-ups in any customer account, prepaid instruments, wallets, and FASTags, RBI deputy governor Swaminathan J said, the action on the fintech is a supervisory one on a regulated entity over persistent non-compliance.

Swaminathan J clarified that such actions are preceded by months or years of bilateral engagement and that regulated entities (in this case Paytm Payments Bank) are provided adequate time to take corrective action so as to protect consumers and financial stability of the system.

Zomato Q3 Results: Third straight quarterly profit

Food delivery aggregator Zomato has reported a net profit for the third straight quarter. Zomato reported a consolidated net profit of ₹138 crore for the October to December period. During the same quarter last year, the company had reported a net loss of ₹347 crore.

Revenue for the quarter on a consolidated basis grew by 79% year-on-year to ₹3,288 crore, compared to ₹1,948 crore.

The company also said that it is on track to meet its guidance of adjusted EBITDA break-even for Blinkit on or before the June quarter of financial year 2025. Blinkit’s Gross Order Value doubled from last year, rising 103% to ₹664 crore. Even on a sequential basis, GOV increased by 28%. Losses for the business also declined.

Attentive raises $7 million from Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India

Attentive, an AI-based SaaS startup, has bagged $7 million in its Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, with participation from existing investors Peak XV Partners and InfoEdge Ventures.

Tenacity Ventures will also come onboard the cap table through a secondary investment, the firm said.

The startup intends to use the fresh capital to enhance product development, sales, marketing, and customer success initiatives, focusing on its recently launched products, Accelerate and Beam AI.

Upekkha invests $ 4.3 million across 37 startups in 2023, plans to fund 70 startups in 2024

Upekkha, an early-stage SaaS fund and accelerator, has announced today that it funded 37 companies in 2023, deploying a total of $4.3 million. The firm is looking to invest in 70 startups in 2024.

Some of the firm’s portfolio companies include Enthu AI, Medpiper, Toothlens, Kommunicate, InsightGig among others.

“We are witnessing a remarkable surge in the Indian SaaS landscape, driven by advancements in AI. The investment is of $125k in each startup under SAFE guidelines,” added Prasanna Krishnamoorthy, Managing Partner at Upekkha.

Upliance AI raises ₹34 crore in funding from Khosla Ventures

upliance.ai, an AI-powered home appliance company has raised a seed funding round at ₹34 crores at a valuation of ₹143 crores from Khosla Ventures.

With the fresh funds, upliance.ai said it aims to grow its revenue to ₹150 crores in 2024 and to scale production to 20,000 units per annum in the next 6 months.

The funds will also be used to accelerate product expansion by investing in tooling and advanced manufacturing techniques, building the team, and collaborating with content creators for marketing.

Algorithmic Biologics secures $2.5 million in Pre-Series A Funding

Deeptech startup Algorithmic Biologics has secured $2.5 million in Pre-Series A funding round led by Bharat innovation Fund with participation from existing investor Axilor Ventures.

According to the startup, proceeds of the fundraise will be used to support the product pipeline, building the sales organization and furthering their international expansion.

“Tapestry is providing affordable genomics sequencing for all, in collaboration with leading genomics labs,” said Dr Manoj Gopalkrishnan, founder and CEO of Algorithmic Biologics.

Neodocs raises $2 million in seed round for smartphone-based diagnostics

Affordable smartphone-based test kits Neodocs has raised $2 million in a funding round led by Omidyar Network India.

Other investors include YCombinator, 9Unicorns, Gemba Capital, Titan Capital, and angels such as Prashant Tandon and Gaurav Agarwal (1Mg), Rohit MA (Cloudnine), Kunal Shah (Cred), Varun Alagh (Mamaearth), Viren Shetty (Narayana Healthcare), Harshad Reddy (Apollo Hospitals) and Vivek Gambhir (Boat).

Neodocs plans to expand its footprint in international markets, including Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and the Americas. The company is also working on rolling out ‘instant’ finger-prick blood tests that will give results on the phone by just clicking a picture, a statement said.

Ivory gets $500,000 from Capital A

Ivory, an age-tech startup specializing in brain health, has raised $500,000 in a funding round led by early-stage VC fund – Capital A.

TDV Partners (Ujwal Sutaria) and several notable angel investors including Abhishek Kabra (MD, Samara Capital), Tushar Vashisht (Co-Founder and CEO, HealthifyMe), Abhishek Ganguly (Co-Founder and CEO, Agilitas Sports) and Rajeev Singh (VP, SAP India) also participated in the round.

The startup caters to individuals aged 55 and above, including retirees, with a focus on maintaining and enhancing mental and cognitive abilities. The firm will use funds to expand its reach to over 15 million elderly Indians at risk of dementia.

redBus joins ONDC as an independent mobility app

redBus, an online bus ticketing platform, has joined Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and is offering multi-modal transport booking services on its platform in various cities.

By integrating with ONDC Network, redBus said it now offering metro ticket booking facilities in Kochi and Chennai. The firm has also unveiled auto rickshaw booking in Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

The firm plans to expand this service to other cities in the future in collaboration with local apps.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY AND STARTUP NEWS 

SoftBank posts first profit in five quarters with $6.6 billion net income

Japan’s SoftBank Group, has returned to profit for the first time in five quarters, as the Japanese tech investment firm was buoyed by an upturn in portfolio companies, sparking hope it was emerging from a period of retrenchment.

Net profit totalled 985.5 billion yen ($6.6 billion) in the three months to December, versus a 744.7 billion yen loss in the same period a year earlier.

Founded by Chief Executive Masayoshi Son, SoftBank and its Vision Fund investment arm have gone through a difficult period of slashing investment activity and selling assets. Stakes in high-growth startups were particularly hit as risk appetite waned during the pandemic and its aftermath.

Disney to take $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger announced Disney would acquire a $1.5 billion minority equity stake in Fortnite’s publisher Epic Games in an interview with CNBC.

The investment is aimed at letting consumers interact with stories and characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, on Epic’s Fortnite, where 100 million players gather each month.

“In terms of their total media screen time on video games, it was stunning to me – equal to what they spend on TV and movies,” Iger said during a call with analysts and investors after reporting quarterly results. “And the conclusion I reached was we have to be there. And we have to be there as soon as we possibly can in a very compelling way.”

AI startup founded by ex-OpenAI engineer raises $21 million

Daedalus, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup founded by a former OpenAI engineer Jonas Schneider said it had raised $21 million from investors including NGP Capital, Addition and Khosla Ventures as it looks to expand its production in Germany.

Its software, based on AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, helps in the manufacturing of any bespoke precision part used by companies in sectors ranging from semiconductors to defence with minimal human intervention.

Daedalus is using an AI platform to automate its entire manufacturing process, from quoting to delivery, for high-precision and high-mix parts.

Nvidia’s stock market value on verge of overtaking Amazon

Wall Street’s enthusiasm about artificial intelligence has Nvidia on the verge of becoming more valuable than Amazon for the first time in two decades, and the AI chipmaker is not far behind Google-owner Alphabet.

A 40% surge in Nvidia so far in 2024 has elevated its market capitalization to $1.715 trillion as of mid-day trading on Wednesday, only about 3% below Amazon’s $1.767 trillion value, and less than 6% below Alphabet’s $1.812 trillion value, according to LSEG data.

After Nvidia’s stock more than tripled in 2023, it has already become the US stock market’s fifth most valuable company.

Apple defeats lawsuit claiming it overpaid CEO Tim Cook, others

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Apple of overpaying Chief Executive Tim Cook and other top executives by tens of millions of dollars by miscalculating the value of performance-based stock awards.

US District Judge Jennifer Rochon in Manhattan said the iPhone maker described its pay methods in detailed compensation tables in its 2023 proxy statement, “precisely” as securities laws and US Securities and Exchange Commission rules require.

Rochon also found no proof that Apple’s board of directors acted improperly in awarding pay, and said the plaintiff, a pension fund affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, did not give the board enough time to consider its objections before suing.

Spain’s high court suspends $209 million fines on Apple, Amazon amid appeal

Spain’s high court suspended 194 million euros ($209 million) in fines imposed on Amazon and Apple by the local antitrust watchdog in July, pending an appeal by the tech giants, an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters.

CNMC, as the watchdog is known, fined Amazon and Apple for colluding to prevent dealers other than Amazon from selling Apple wares on Amazon’s websites in Spain.

Apple was fined 143.6 million euros and Amazon 50.5 million euros and both companies at the time said they would appeal.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SoftBank offloads another 2% in Paytm

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SoftBank Group has sold an additional 2% in India’s Paytm, the latest in a string of selldowns in the digital payments firm.

The Japanese conglomerate, which sold shares between Dec 19 and Jan 20, now holds a 5.06% stake in the company, according to an exchange filing on Wednesday.

Paytm has recently seen a spate of selldowns, including the exit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and China’s Alibaba Group. The Netherlands-based unit of Chinese fintech firm Ant Financial has also trimmed its stake in the company.

The deal value and identity of the buyers of the shares were not immediately clear.

SoftBank has loosened its hold on the company over the past few years, trimming its stake through various open market deals.

Shares of Paytm, which are up nearly 19% so far this year, were trading 0.81% lower on Wednesday.

Catch highlights of the January 24 session here

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SoftBank gets $7.6 billion T-Mobile stake windfall, shares soar

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SoftBank Group Corp said it would receive shares in telco T-Mobile US worth some $7.59 billion at no additional cost, driving the Japanese conglomerate’s shares up 5%.

Masayoshi Son’s conglomerate said late on Tuesday it had told T-Mobile US to issue 48.75 million shares in common stock to it after conditions set out in an agreement made as part of the merger of SoftBank’s U.S. telco Sprint and T-Mobile were met.

The transaction bolsters the listed assets in SoftBank’s portfolio, doubling its T-Mobile US stake to 7.64% from 3.75% currently, following the blockbuster listing of chip designer Arm in September.

”This increases the proportion of listed, measurable equity in hand on (SoftBank Group’s) balance sheet, and, even better, proportions of marginable equity relative to indebtedness,” Macquarie analyst Paul Golding wrote in a client note.

SoftBank’s shares were on track for their biggest gain in more than a month. The conglomerate has risen only around 14% year-to-date, compared with an almost 30% rise in the benchmark index. The group trades at a discount of around 45.5% to the value of its assets, according to Macquarie calculations.

Son has been a leading investor in late stage startups but has suffered a series of reversals including the bankruptcy of office-sharing firm WeWork, which was once the most valuable U.S. startup.

The T-Mobile US transaction bumps SoftBank’s internal rate of return (IRR) on its Sprint investment to 25.5%.

Other positives for the company include the recent rally in Arm’s shares, which closed on Tuesday around 44% above the initial public offering price.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SoftBank sells shares worth $310 million in FirstCry

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has sold shares worth $310 million in omnichannel retailer FirstCry, which is likely to file a draft paper for IPO this week, sources said on Monday. “SoftBank recently sold shares worth ₹630 crore in FirstCry. It was picked up by a few high net worth individuals. With this sale, SoftBank has realised $310 million from two rounds of stake sale in FirstCry,” a source told PTI.

The source said that the sale values FirstCry in the range of $3.5-3.75 billion. SoftBank had invested $400 million in FirstCry at an enterprise valuation of $900 million.

Another source said that SoftBank is still left with shares valued in the range of $800-900 million which it will sell later. “SoftBank is looking to make around $1.3 billion from the investment made in FirstCry,” the source said.

Email query sent to SoftBank elicited no response in this regard.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow