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SoftBank Group

also referred to as: soft bank · softbank · softbank vision fund · vision fund

includes SoftBank Group International, SoftBank Opportunity Fund, SoftBank London Team

74 statements across 39 episodes · 22 bullish · 24 bearish · 27 people on the record · first statement Dec 21, 2015 by Eric Hippeau · said 297 times in 105 episodes since 2015 · across every show →

Mentions by year, the whole family

brought up most by Harry Stebbings (135), Marcelo Claure (33), Jason Lemkin (8), Mark Suster (6), Johannes Reck (6), Jeff Housenbold (6), Jeff Fagnan (6), Eric Hippeau (6)

tap a year for its mentions
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01325201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodes it came up in
00413825201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 22 mentions in 13 episodes 2 per episode
2025 62 mentions in 22 episodes 3 per episode
2024 22 mentions in 11 episodes 2 per episode
2023 39 mentions in 7 episodes 6 per episode
2022 25 mentions in 18 episodes 1 per episode
2021 55 mentions in 10 episodes 6 per episode
2020 4 mentions in 3 episodes 1 per episode
2019 34 mentions in 5 episodes 7 per episode
2018 22 mentions in 10 episodes 2 per episode
2017 1 mention in 1 episode
2016 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
2015 9 mentions in 3 episodes 3 per episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about SoftBank Group, oldest first

Dec 21, 2015
Assertion Supported
SoftBank Owned a Third of Yahoo at Its IPO
“SoftBank then ended up owning, as you'll recall a third of Yahoo at the IPO.”
Eric Hippeau Dec 21, 2015 ▶ 3:27 20 VC: Running Lerer Hippeau Ventures Like A Startup with Eric Hippeau, Managing Partner @ Lerer Hippeau Ventures
Jun 24, 2016 positive
Assertion Supported
Stebbings: x.ai has raised over $30M in venture capital
“And x.ai is now one of the best funded AI startups, having raised over thirty million dollars from our friends at Firstmark, and a big thanks to Matt Turt for making the intro, and the likes of DCM, Lira Hippo, Crunch Fund, SoftBank, and many more incredible i…”
Harry Stebbings Jun 24, 2016 ▶ 0:29 20VC: X.ai's Dennis Mortensen on Why There Is No Incumbency Advantage in Artificial Intelligence
May 8, 2018
Disclosure
SoftTech VC was regularly confused with SoftBank after Vision Fund launch
“With the announcement of the Vision Fund and, you know, the huge investments into Uber and everything else that they've been doing, we were just getting confused on a pretty regular basis, which is kind of crazy considering that their fund is, I think, three o…”
Andy McLoughlin May 8, 2018 ▶ 7:39 20VC: Andy McLoughlin on The Benefits of Backing Unsexy Businesses with Non-Obvious Founders, How To Distinguish Between A Good Bridge Round and A Bridge To Nowhere & Whether VCs Really Do Add Value?
Jul 17, 2018 positive
Opinion
Elad Gil: SoftBank Has Had the Greatest Impact of All VC Mega Funds
“I think that the sort of mega fund that's mattered the most in terms of impact is probably SoftBank, Simply because at a hundred billion dollars, SoftBank is the equivalent of a hundred general catalysts or 12 Sequoia funds. So just the sheer scale of capital …”
Elad Gil Jul 17, 2018 ▶ 26:02 20VC: Elad Gil's High Growth Handbook on The Commonalities of The Truly Great CEOs, How To Hire The Very Best Execs, Why Cash is A Defensible Moat Today & The Pros and Cons of M&A and IPOs
May 20, 2019 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Housenbold: SoftBank Vision Fund's sweet spot is mid-to-late-stage minority investments
“We have the flexibility in our fund to do early stage, mid stage, late stage, to do private, to do public, to do minority investments, to do majority investments, but our sweet spot is meaningful size minority investments in mid to late stage”
Jeff Housenbold May 20, 2019 ▶ 12:54 20VC: Softbank Managing Partner, Jeff Housenbold on How Softbank Approach Portfolio Construction, Their Optimal Investment Decision-Making Process and What Excites Softbank Most In Opportunities Today
May 20, 2019
Disclosure
Housenbold writes SoftBank checks ranging from $200 million to $2 billion
“And I've written checks between two hundred million and now close to two billion dollars.”
Jeff Housenbold May 20, 2019 ▶ 25:25 20VC: Softbank Managing Partner, Jeff Housenbold on How Softbank Approach Portfolio Construction, Their Optimal Investment Decision-Making Process and What Excites Softbank Most In Opportunities Today
May 20, 2019
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Housenbold: SoftBank meets with 10 new pitching companies weekly
“In a given week, I'm probably meeting with 10 new companies that are pitching SoftBank. I'm sitting in two board meetings, having a couple compensation calls, chatting with my CEOs, interviewing members of prospective members of their management team, helping …”
Jeff Housenbold May 20, 2019 ▶ 28:56 20VC: Softbank Managing Partner, Jeff Housenbold on How Softbank Approach Portfolio Construction, Their Optimal Investment Decision-Making Process and What Excites Softbank Most In Opportunities Today
May 20, 2019
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Masayoshi Son meets every founder before SoftBank makes an investment
“Masa meets with every single entrepreneur and management team before we make an investment.”
Jeff Housenbold May 20, 2019 ▶ 16:17 20VC: Softbank Managing Partner, Jeff Housenbold on How Softbank Approach Portfolio Construction, Their Optimal Investment Decision-Making Process and What Excites Softbank Most In Opportunities Today
May 20, 2019 positive
Disclosure
SoftBank provides secondary liquidity in over half of its deals
“In more than half of our investments, we have provided a secondary component for seed and early-stage investors to have liquidity”
Jeff Housenbold May 20, 2019 ▶ 20:38 20VC: Softbank Managing Partner, Jeff Housenbold on How Softbank Approach Portfolio Construction, Their Optimal Investment Decision-Making Process and What Excites Softbank Most In Opportunities Today
May 20, 2019 bullish
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Housenbold: SoftBank portfolio companies will outperform competitors in market downturns
“Should we hit a economic speed bump, I think our portfolio companies and the entrepreneurs that we have the pleasure of partnering with will be in an advantaged state against the competition.”
Jeff Housenbold May 20, 2019 ▶ 11:30 20VC: Softbank Managing Partner, Jeff Housenbold on How Softbank Approach Portfolio Construction, Their Optimal Investment Decision-Making Process and What Excites Softbank Most In Opportunities Today
May 20, 2019 bullish
Disclosure
Housenbold: SoftBank has done multiple follow-on rounds in DoorDash, Compass, Opendoor
“In my portfolio alone, We've already done follow-ons or multiple follow-ons into companies like DoorDash, Compass, Katerra, Opendoor, as some examples”
Jeff Housenbold May 20, 2019 ▶ 19:08 20VC: Softbank Managing Partner, Jeff Housenbold on How Softbank Approach Portfolio Construction, Their Optimal Investment Decision-Making Process and What Excites Softbank Most In Opportunities Today
May 20, 2019 neutral
Disclosure
SoftBank Vision Fund is structured as a 14-year vehicle
“We're a twelve-year fund with two one-year extensions, so we're a fourteen-year fund pragmatically, and we're only 22 months into that journey.”
Jeff Housenbold May 20, 2019 ▶ 20:12 20VC: Softbank Managing Partner, Jeff Housenbold on How Softbank Approach Portfolio Construction, Their Optimal Investment Decision-Making Process and What Excites Softbank Most In Opportunities Today
May 20, 2019 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SoftBank's scale frees founders from short-term quarterly public market constraints
“As a public CEO, you have to hit your numbers to the penny every single quarter, and you're boxed in in some ways into executing against that one strategy, and you think very carefully about your Capital allocation, your investment decisions day by day, week b…”
Jeff Housenbold May 20, 2019 ▶ 8:30 20VC: Softbank Managing Partner, Jeff Housenbold on How Softbank Approach Portfolio Construction, Their Optimal Investment Decision-Making Process and What Excites Softbank Most In Opportunities Today
May 20, 2019
Disclosure
SoftBank's due diligence process takes four to ten weeks
“And so that may take between four and 10 weeks of diligence.”
Jeff Housenbold May 20, 2019 ▶ 15:25 20VC: Softbank Managing Partner, Jeff Housenbold on How Softbank Approach Portfolio Construction, Their Optimal Investment Decision-Making Process and What Excites Softbank Most In Opportunities Today
May 26, 2020 negative
Assertion Supported
Elad Gil: SoftBank's impaired portfolio is delaying Vision Fund 2
“SoftBank would be an example of that, where they invested a very large amount of money In a number of companies, a number of those companies are now below where SoftBank has invested. A number are well above, like Gardent. And it looks like the Second Vision F…”
Elad Gil May 26, 2020 ▶ 22:42 20VC: Elad Gil on Startup Offense and Defence in a Recession, How The Venture Landscape Has Shifted & All Things Valuations, Secondaries and Layoffs
Aug 3, 2020 negative
Assertion Not checkable as stated
DFJ's Total Dot-Com Losses Were Less Than SoftBank's Buy.com Loss
“If you aggregate all of our losses from every loser that we did in the internet, it was much less than soft bank lost in a single investment with buy.com.”
Steve Jurvetson Aug 3, 2020 ▶ 28:41 20VC: Steve Jurvetson on 20 Years of Friendship with Elon Musk, How To Analyse Market Timing, Why Venture Does Not Scale & Why He Has Never Sold A Share in Any Company He Holds
May 27, 2021 negative
Insight
Mega-Checks Fail in Enterprise Cloud Because Growth Isn't Paid Acquisition
“They haven't done much in the enterprise cloud world, but I think there's a reason why, which is it's hard to put hundreds of millions of dollars into mid-stage companies. You run the risk of overfunding them, and it's not a paid acquisition game in the way th…”
Byron Deeter May 27, 2021 ▶ 30:21 20VC: The Twilio Memo: Bessemer's Byron Deeter on How a $125K Initial Check Became Bessemer's Largest Position, What The Influx of Late-Stage Capital Means For Venture Today & Why The Incumbent Advantage Is Now An Incumbent Disadvantage
Aug 30, 2021 bullish
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Claure: SoftBank aims to deploy $5B annually in Latin America
“Well, you know, if we can continue to do this, my goal would be to invest five billion dollars a year in the foreseeable future.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 36:45 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021
Disclosure
Claure: SoftBank deploys $40B to $50B annually
“We're investing 40 to fifty billion dollars a year.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 12:31 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 positive
Opinion
Claure: SoftBank disrupted venture capital just like Uber disrupted taxi drivers
“The same way Uber disrupted the taxi drivers, we disrupted the venture capital industry. While people used to write these small checks, we suddenly showed up with a hundred billion dollars, and we disrupted the way venture capital works today, and therefore, w…”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 21:30 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 neutral
Disclosure
Claure: SoftBank constructs Chinese walls when portfolio companies become direct competitors
“What we do at that point in time is we basically split the responsibilities within investment partners. We build these Chinese walls to make sure nobody except me can see what they're doing, and we're very careful in information sharing.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 19:41 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 bullish
Disclosure
Claure: SoftBank Generated a 10x Return on VTEX IPO
“Two weeks back, we just took Vitex public at a very high valuation. I think it's whatever, 10 X what we invested.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 24:53 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 negative
Disclosure
Claure regrets SoftBank missing major MercadoLibre investment in 2018
“So MercadoLibre, in July, 2018, the value was significantly less, and I didn't push mass enough for us to make an enormous play with MercadoLibre, because I didn't truly understand investing back then.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 33:26 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 positive
Insight
Claure: SoftBank tests founder execution, not business models, in LATAM
“And to be fair, we have a competitive advantage. And that's the fact that we have seen these business models being deployed in China and India and the US. So when companies shop in Latin America with a similar business model, we don't need to test whether the …”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 16:07 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 positive
Disclosure
Claure: SoftBank invested in Univision and backed its Televisa acquisition
“We just invested in, in a media company in the U.S. Called Univision, which is, has a 70% market share for Hispanics, And then we helped them buy Televisa in Mexico.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 18:10 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 neutral
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Claure: SoftBank operates 26 global teams meeting hundreds of founders weekly
“Today we have 26 investment teams all over the world that are meeting hundreds of entrepreneurs every single week”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 10:51 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 neutral
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Claure: SoftBank wrote $50M and $8B checks on the same day
“There was a meeting in which we wrote a fifty million dollar check, and there was a meeting that we wrote an eight billion dollar check. And that could happen the same day.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 10:29 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 bullish
Disclosure
Claure: SoftBank uses Univision TV ads to accelerate fintech portfolio growth
“We're using that company to put ads in traditional TV to help people to download the app of our fintech companies and making our fintech companies explode.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 18:20 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 bullish
Assertion Contradicted
Claure: SoftBank produced 22 Latin American unicorns in one year
“We have produced, I think, a total of 22 unicorns last year, where before that, there were like one, so it's been amazing what I'm seeing in Latin America.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 15:34 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 negative
Disclosure
Claure: SoftBank Passed on Nubank Early On Due to High Price
“I passed on Nubank because of the price at the beginning when we started the fund, and it was the wrong decision because the opportunity was huge.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 23:11 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 neutral
Opinion
Claure: Tiger Global replicated SoftBank's model, forcing faster dealmaking
“Tiger basically has replicated the SoftBank model, and there's nothing magical about what they're doing, and it's great, because what Tiger does, it forces my teams to make quicker decisions now.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 27:20 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 bullish
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Claure: SoftBank Will Take 8 LATAM Fund Companies Public by 2022
“My expectation is that we take at least eight of our companies public between this year and next year of the Latin American fund.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 25:16 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021
Assertion Contradicted
Claure: SoftBank invests exclusively its own capital with no LPs
“We only invest our own capital. We don't have our own LPs. We don't have specific cycles.”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 11:45 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 bullish
Assertion Contradicted
Claure: SoftBank backs over 84% of Latin American unicorns
“I was looking at the market share of unicorns that we have in Latin America. It's over 84% of companies”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 26:50 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Aug 30, 2021 positive
Insight
Claure: VCs should provide full capital upfront to avoid continuous fundraising
“We're believers in you have to provide an entrepreneur the right amount of capital on day one. Entrepreneurs should not be focused half their time trying to raise money and half the time trying to run a business. So why not provide the right amount of capital …”
Marcelo Claure Aug 30, 2021 ▶ 21:57 20VC: Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International on Lessons From Investing $1BN Per Week with Masa Son, How Softbank Could Have Up To 8 Companies Go Public in LATAM Alone Next Year & How Softbank Analyse Both Deal Pricing and Competition Today
Sep 27, 2021 positive
Assertion Supported
JOKR has raised over $170M from GGV, Balderton, SoftBank, and Kaszek
“To date, Ralph has raised over a hundred and seventy million dollars for the company, from the likes of GGV, Balderton, Soft SoftBank and Kazak, to name a few.”
Harry Stebbings Sep 27, 2021 ▶ 0:24 20VC: The Rise of Quick Commerce and Why CPGs ARe Misaligned Being Powered By Ad Spend, The 5 Core Components Consumers Care About When Ordering Today & Why Amazon and Alibaba Will Not Be The Big Players in 10 Years with Ralf Wenzel, Founder & CEO @ JOKR
Oct 11, 2021 bearish
What-if
Sacca: Uber's IPO would have gone differently without SoftBank's DoorDash funding
“Uber's IPO would have gone very differently if they hadn't funded DoorDash.”
Chris Sacca Oct 11, 2021 ▶ 1:08:46 20VC: Chris Sacca on Coming Out of Retirement To Unf**k The Planet with Lowercarbon, How Chris Evaluates His Relationship To Money Today, Why We Have Bred a Generation of Ass**** Kids, Do VCs Provide Any Real Value and The True Unfiltered Opinion on Faceb
Oct 11, 2021 negative
Opinion
Sacca calls SoftBank value destructive
“I think SoftBank is just value destructive, and it drives me fucking crazy.”
Chris Sacca Oct 11, 2021 ▶ 1:09:39 20VC: Chris Sacca on Coming Out of Retirement To Unf**k The Planet with Lowercarbon, How Chris Evaluates His Relationship To Money Today, Why We Have Bred a Generation of Ass**** Kids, Do VCs Provide Any Real Value and The True Unfiltered Opinion on Faceb
Jan 12, 2022
Assertion Supported
JOKR Raised Over $260M at a $1.2B Valuation
“Ralph has raised over two hundred and sixty million dollars for the company, most recently valuing it at 1.2 billion dollars, and prior to Joker, Ralph spent close to seven years as the founder and CEO of Food Panda, as well as enjoying roles as chief strategy…”
Harry Stebbings Jan 12, 2022 ▶ 0:30 20VC: The Memo: Never Before Revealed Metrics; A Full Breakdown of Unit Economics Behind JOKR, How Does Emerging Markets Compare to Developed Economies & The Biggest Misnomers on Quick Commerce with Ralf Wenzel, Founder & CEO @ JOKR
Jan 20, 2022 bearish
Opinion
Chris Sacca calls SoftBank "value destructive" in the venture capital industry
“But I think SoftBank is just value destructive, and it drives me fucking crazy.”
Chris Sacca Jan 20, 2022 ▶ 1:19:17 Chris Sacca's True Unfiltered Opinion on Facebook and Softbank | Full Interview · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 12, 2022 bullish
Disclosure
Claure: Passing on Nubank early due to valuation was a mistake
“I passed on Nubank because of the price at the beginning when we started the fund, and it was the wrong decision because the opportunity was huge. Now I made that mistake. I said, oh my God, it's too expensive. But I didn't realize that the size of the pie was…”
Marcelo Claure Aug 12, 2022 ▶ 3:43 20VC: 13 of the Great Investing Minds on When to Pay Up vs When To Remain Disciplined and Walk Because the Price is too High: The Ultimate Guide to Price Sensitivity
Sep 2, 2022 positive
Assertion Partly supported
Haas: Masayoshi Son lost 90% of his net worth and recovered it
“Arm is owned by SoftBank. So, Masayoshi-san, who's, I think, in the top 50 most wealthy people in the world, in the year 2000, he was the wealthiest man in the world, I think, for, he likes the joke, for about 20 nanoseconds when the SoftBank stock was higher …”
René Haas Sep 2, 2022 ▶ 26:02 20VC: Arm CEO Rene Haas on How The Best Leaders Make Decisions and The Trade-Off Between Speed and Quality | Leadership Lessons from 7 Years at Nvidia | How Companies Can Retain Speed, Innovation and Agility at Scale
Sep 2, 2022
Assertion Supported
SoftBank acquired Arm for $32 billion in 2016
“In 2016, SoftBank made Arm its largest ever acquisition, with a reported price of thirty two billion dollars.”
Harry Stebbings Sep 2, 2022 ▶ 0:27 20VC: Arm CEO Rene Haas on How The Best Leaders Make Decisions and The Trade-Off Between Speed and Quality | Leadership Lessons from 7 Years at Nvidia | How Companies Can Retain Speed, Innovation and Agility at Scale
Oct 10, 2022 negative
Insight
Gerstner: Venture capital funds of $10B or more cannot generate alpha
“Deploying a ten billion dollar fund or, God forbid, a fifty billion or a hundred billion dollar fund like Masa tried to do, right? You already know you will not generate alpha in that. You are getting the beta of the global tech industry when you're investing …”
Brad Gerstner Oct 10, 2022 ▶ 42:38 Brad Gerstner: How I Pick Companies; Lessons from Warren Buffet; Chamath vs Gurley | E935 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jul 17, 2023 negative
Opinion
Mohnot: SoftBank made incredibly poor decisions pouring capital into unready companies
“SoftBank, I think, is just really tough. Like, they made just a ton of incredibly poor decisions, poured a ton of money into bad companies, and they really sort of, like, We talked about five on 25. For them, it's more like 500 on 2.5 for a company that was no…”
Sheel Mohnot Jul 17, 2023 ▶ 1:14:03 Sheel Mohnot: How I Got Married in the Metaverse; Founder vs Product vs Market | E1035 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jul 31, 2023 bullish
Disclosure
Claure: Three of Uber's Top Five Global Cities Were in LatAm
“When we were investors in Uber, you know, we had to keep it a secret that after New York, three of the top five cities were Latin American cities.”
Marcelo Claure Jul 31, 2023 ▶ 24:24 Marcelo Claure & Shu Nyatta: LATAM's New $500M Growth Fund; Investing Billions at SoftBank | E1042 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jul 31, 2023 negative
Disclosure
Claure: I Invested $150M Into FTX at SoftBank Due to FOMO
“So I invested hundred and fifty million dollars on FTX, which I mean, apologies to SoftBank, because I should have never made that investment, but it's probably one decision that has changed my life forever. I'm never going to invest in something that I don't …”
Marcelo Claure Jul 31, 2023 ▶ 1:04:12 Marcelo Claure & Shu Nyatta: LATAM's New $500M Growth Fund; Investing Billions at SoftBank | E1042 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jul 31, 2023 negative
Disclosure
Nyatta: SoftBank Evaluated OpenAI Around 2017 but Passed on Investing
“So when we were at SoftBank in 2017, I think thereabouts, MASA, correctly, was all over AI, and the team was small enough that we were all focused on the topic and looking around at what was interesting and being built in the world of AI, and we came across Op…”
Shu Nyatta Jul 31, 2023 ▶ 1:02:17 Marcelo Claure & Shu Nyatta: LATAM's New $500M Growth Fund; Investing Billions at SoftBank | E1042 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 9, 2023 neutral
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Lemkin: Momentum funds like Tiger and SoftBank will return when multiples spike
“I just think when those things are going to die and then when Multiples get insane again. They'll all reappear. They're just high multiple vehicles, right?”
Jason Lemkin Aug 9, 2023 ▶ 1:10:48 Jason Lemkin: Every VC has a FRAUD in their portfolio; The IPO market is about to EXPLODE | E1046 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Mar 6, 2024 negative
Opinion
Wagner: SoftBank and mega-funds pollute good startup opportunities with excess capital
“There's certainly lots of otherwise good opportunities that have been polluted or dragged down by, you know, whatever soft bank showing up, and, you know, or any other number of people that, that we can name”
Peter Wagner Mar 6, 2024 ▶ 8:05 Peter Wagner: 27 Years of Investing Lessons of Picking Founders, Price Discipline & Reserve | E1123 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 1, 2024
Disclosure
Suster: Upfront Ventures participated in zero SoftBank or Tiger deals
“So we had zero SoftBank deals, we had zero Tiger deals, we had one Coatoo deal, one Insight deal.”
Mark Suster May 1, 2024 ▶ 33:05 Mark Suster: Why Private Equity Will Replace IPOs and M&A as the Exit Path | E1147 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 1, 2024 negative
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Suster: SoftBank, Tiger, Coatue, and Insight marked 60% of 2021-2022 unicorns
“Of the 1260% were marked by four firms, ok? SoftBank, Tiger, Coachu, and Insight.”
Mark Suster May 1, 2024 ▶ 29:41 Mark Suster: Why Private Equity Will Replace IPOs and M&A as the Exit Path | E1147 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 13, 2024 negative
Opinion
Blomfield: SoftBank's London team is arrogant and unwelcome on cap tables
“Probably SoftBank. I had a very unpleasant experience with the SoftBank London team. Just a bunch of pretty arrogant, like, Deutsche Bank traders turned venture capital investors. They were not fun at all.”
Tom Blomfield May 13, 2024 ▶ 1:00:07 Tom Blomfield: Do the Best All Raise Pre-Demo Day & YC's Fundraising Advice to Startups | E 1152 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 20, 2024 positive
Opinion
Arora: SoftBank's Masayoshi Son is a Genius Whose Risk Appetite Hasn't Aged
“I mean, if you look at Masa, he's one of the geniuses of our times, where he's one of the very few people in the world. His risk appetite hasn't changed as he ages.”
Nikesh Arora May 20, 2024 ▶ 0:17 Nikesh Arora: Lessons from $102BN Market Cap & How to Create & Sustain Competitive Advantage | E1155 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 27, 2024 neutral
Disclosure
Lemkin: Inside VC Funds Are Flooding High-Growth Portfolio Companies With Unprecedented Capital
“Anyone in my portfolio that is growing quickly, the insiders flood it with capital, flood it with flood it with capital in a way I've never seen in my whole career flood. Everyone used to be a risk averse and then they wanted tiger to do it and they wanted sof…”
Jason Lemkin May 27, 2024 ▶ 45:57 Jason Lemkin: Why Pricing is Worse Than Ever and There is More Funding Than Ever | E1157 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 13, 2025 neutral
Assertion Supported
Pishevar: Kalanick and Michael initiated SoftBank's $12B Uber deal
“So the SoftBank conversations, ironically, Travis and Emil started those conversations, the ultimate twelve billion dollar investment from SoftBank Vision Fund.”
Shervin Pishevar Jan 13, 2025 ▶ 47:48 Shervin Pishevar: What Really Happened in the Firing of Travis Kalanick | E1245 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Apr 17, 2025 bearish
Assertion Open · timeframe Apr 2025
O'Driscoll: Tiger Global and SoftBank are out of the venture game
“I mean, the big, I mean, the big momentum, the two biggest momentum players Of the last decade, Tiger and SoftBank are already out of the game.”
Rory O'Driscoll Apr 17, 2025 ▶ 43:50 a16z's $20BN Fund & Founders Fund's $4.6BN & Why Josh Kushner Has Mastered the Game · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
May 26, 2025 neutral
Disclosure
Airwallex rejected SoftBank's proposal for an $8B valuation round in 2021
“Like, then you raise, like, three rounds, and end of the twenty-twenty-one, SoftBank was talking to me about, you know, leading an eight billion dollar round, and obviously we didn't, you know, entertain that conversation.”
Jack Zhang May 26, 2025 ▶ 1:19:21 Airwallex CEO & Co-Founder, Jack Zhang: The Angel That Turned $1M into $1BN · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jun 5, 2025 negative
Opinion
Lessin: Venture fund paper markups are irrelevant and often negative signals
“I know full well, I know this is an investor. That the marks that you made up or the marks of SoftBank listed something somewhere are completely irrelevant. In fact, the negative signal in a lot of cases. So like the marks are irrelevant and stupid.”
Sam Lessin Jun 5, 2025 ▶ 4:41 Is DPI The Only Thing That Matters? with Sam Lessin, Jason Lemkin & Rory O’Driscoll · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jun 23, 2025
Disclosure
Johannes Reck sold secondary equity during GetYourGuide's 2019 SoftBank round
“I did sell secondaries, thankfully in 2019 as part of the soft bank round which actually was very helpful.”
Johannes Reck Jun 23, 2025 ▶ 54:07 GetYourGuide CEO & Founder, Johannes Reck: The Wild Story Raising $450M From Masa and Softbank · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jul 31, 2025 negative
Opinion
O'Driscoll: Tiger Global and SoftBank are shadows of their former selves
“Tiger's the obvious example. Now, they're still around, but a shadow of their former selves. Their quote unquote relevance in 2021 meant that they saw every deal that year, but they picked badly, so they got sent home. Same thing with SoftBank.”
Rory O'Driscoll Jul 31, 2025 ▶ 16:44 Why Apple Needs a Management Overhaul & Why Google is Catching Up with Hyperscalers · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 28, 2025 negative
Opinion
O'Driscoll: Sequoia was right on Klarna at $6B; SoftBank wrong at $45B
“The guys who priced it at six billion were right. And the guys, which is Sequoia and the guys who priced it at forty five billion were wrong, which is SoftBank.”
Rory O'Driscoll Aug 28, 2025 ▶ 52:35 Anthropic's $10B Round, Klarna's IPO, Inside a16z's 72 Deal Seed Investment Machine ft. Marc Benioff · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 28, 2025 bearish
Prediction Held up
O'Driscoll: SoftBank's Klarna shares will trade at 30-40 cents on dollar
“They just overpaid and they're going to get converted and they're going to trade at 30, 40 cents of what they originally paid.”
Rory O'Driscoll Aug 28, 2025 ▶ 54:51 Anthropic's $10B Round, Klarna's IPO, Inside a16z's 72 Deal Seed Investment Machine ft. Marc Benioff · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 2, 2025 bearish
Opinion
O'Driscoll: SoftBank proved money alone cannot make market winners
“You know, soft bank proved to everyone's complete satisfaction, right? That money alone cannot make winners, right? And which is very kind of them to run that economic experiment and, you know, prove the negative.”
Rory O'Driscoll Oct 2, 2025 ▶ 27:02 Are Burn Multiples BS in an AI World? & Sam Altman Needs $1TRN of Energy · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 16, 2025 neutral
Opinion
Ehrenberg: $5B Margin Loan Is a 'Low Octane' Move for Masayoshi Son
“So to me, this is like a relatively low octane masa move.”
Roger Ehrenberg Oct 16, 2025 ▶ 33:29 Thinking Machines Co-Founder Joins Meta for $3.5BN, Industry Venture's $665M Acquisition · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 16, 2025 neutral
Assertion Open · timeframe Oct 2025
O'Driscoll: SoftBank Holds $80B in Equity Through 90% Arm Stake
“He owns 90% of Arm still in SoftBank, and Arm is trading ninety-odd billion, so he's got eighty billion of equitable equity there.”
Rory O'Driscoll Oct 16, 2025 ▶ 31:14 Thinking Machines Co-Founder Joins Meta for $3.5BN, Industry Venture's $665M Acquisition · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 16, 2025 neutral
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Ehrenberg: SoftBank Could Easily Borrow $25B Against Arm Shares
“So, but it very easily could see him back in the news with an incremental twenty billion. He could lever this. He could take twenty-five billion against the arm position easily.”
Roger Ehrenberg Oct 16, 2025 ▶ 32:43 Thinking Machines Co-Founder Joins Meta for $3.5BN, Industry Venture's $665M Acquisition · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 30, 2025
Assertion Partly supported
O'Driscoll: SoftBank is funding OpenAI at $300B and $500B valuations simultaneously
“SoftBank is closing two separate deals right now. They're closing their roughly three hundred billion pre direct investment, and they're also doing a share buyback from exist from some existing employees of five hundred billion.”
Rory O'Driscoll Oct 30, 2025 ▶ 12:10 OpenAI Restructuring: Who Wins and Who Loses & Mercor Raises $350M at a $10BN Valuation · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Dec 15, 2025 positive
Assertion Supported
The original SoftBank Vision Fund correctly identified the massive AI opportunity
“They were early to figuring out that there would be a huge opportunity in AI. So, you know, they famously were in NVIDIA in, in that fund you know, and they did some really good investments, like Slack, like Garnet.”
David George Dec 15, 2025 ▶ 36:26 a16z's David George on the Most Controversial Bet at a16z & Do Margins and Revenue Matter in AI? · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Mar 26, 2026 bearish
Assertion Contradicted
Lemkin: SoftBank is hitting debt limits and flashing above covenants
“The only problem is SoftBank seems tapped out. They're hitting their debt limits. They just announced this week, right? That they're flashing above their covenants.”
Jason Lemkin Mar 26, 2026 ▶ 26:29 Why You Need a $1B Fund To Do Series A | SpaceX at $2TRN & Data Centers in Space | Groq's $20BN Deal · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Apr 2, 2026 bearish
Assertion Contradicted
O'Driscoll: SoftBank is 1.5x to 2x levered, threatening equity in downturn
“It's around two X levered, right? One and a half to two X levered in terms of equity, right? What that means is a 30, 40% decline, you know, wipes them out.”
Rory O'Driscoll Apr 2, 2026 ▶ 18:29 OpenAI Kills Sora & Hits $100M ARR on Ads | Oura Going Public & Whoop Raises at $10BN · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jun 15, 2026
Assertion Partly supported
US government owns 10% of Intel, Nvidia and SoftBank 5% each
“American government owns 10% of Intel. Nvidia and SoftBank own five percent each.”
Aravind Srinivas Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 55:54 Perplexity CEO: Micron Will Be More Valuable Than Meta & How Export Controls Helped Not Hurt China · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jun 20, 2026 negative
Disclosure
Petersen: SoftBank led Flexport's $1B round and urged undercutting rivals by 10%
“Yeah, well, they led the round of a billion, yeah. And he was like, whatever the price of freight is, you'd just be 10% cheaper than everybody, and then if someone matches you, you'd just be 10% cheaper than that, which is like a terrible strategy. I did not d…”
Ryan Petersen Jun 20, 2026 ▶ 1:12:18 Flexport CEO: Two Questions Every Founder Needs to Ask · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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