SoftBank VF1 reports $544 mn loss on Paytm exit, gains $65 mn on Zomato

The Japanese conglomerate recorded a $394 million gross gain from its $199 million investment in Policybazaar, and gain of $285 million on its $397 million investment in Zomato

SoftBank’s Vision Fund 1 has reported a gross loss of $544 million on its $1.6 billion investment in the fintech company Paytm, as per the latest presentation by the Japanese tech conglomerate. This disclosure follows the complete exit of SoftBank from its holdings in Paytm during the June quarter.

While the loss on Paytm is significant, SoftBank Vision Fund 1 has seen better outcomes with other investments. The fund recorded a $394 million gross gain from its $199 million investment in Policybazaar, an online insurance aggregator, which it fully exited.

SoftBank also achieved a $65 million gain after acquiring a small shareholding via the acquisition of Blinkit by Zomato in 2022. Other full exits from Indian startups for the fund include logistics major Delhivery. The fund reported a gain of $285 million on its $397 million investment, retaining a 10.15 per cent stake in the company as of the end of the June quarter.

SoftBank has also reported substantial gains from its international exits, including NVIDIA with a gross gain of $2,936 million, Uber with a gross gain of $1,549 million, and Slack with a gross gain of $684 million.

SoftBank Vision Fund 1 and 2 performance

In its annual financial performance report, SoftBank reported that its Vision Fund 1 made 94 investments with an acquisition cost of $89.6 billion, yielding a cumulative return of $106.3 billion, driven by successes in companies like ByteDance and Coupang. In comparison, its Vision Fund 2, with 277 investments at an acquisition cost of $52.4 billion, has a total cumulative return of $33.1 billion.

SoftBank on Indian companies

In India, companies backed by SoftBank Vision Funds accounted for 50 per cent of all growth capital invested in fiscal 2023 and 60 per cent of all capital raised through Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) since 2021. Over the past decade, SoftBank has invested approximately $10.6 billion (Rs 88,700 crore) in Indian tech startups and has recorded exits amounting to $6-6.8 billion (over Rs 50,000 crore).

Despite its exits, SoftBank continues to maintain substantial holdings. The company is offering to sell up to $153 million worth of shares through three upcoming IPOs, but will still hold stocks worth up to Rs 11,011 crore post-listing. Additionally, SoftBank has already sold shares of FirstCry worth $275 million but has yet to offload shares from the other two companies.