Knowledge @ Wharton quotes Venture Intelligence data and founder in its article titled "Will SoftBank Vision Fund’s $6 Billion Bet in India Pay Off?"
Extracts:
"(says) Arun Natarajan, founder of information and analysis firm Venture Intelligence: “Given how the future of so many of the local internet and mobile unicorns was hanging in the balance in 2016, the arrival of such a deep-pocketed investor is a sigh of relief.”
"He points out that other than the 2011 investment in InMobi, SoftBank really started to invest in the Indian market directly only in late 2014. The less than three-year period is too early to pronounce a verdict on their ‘track record’,” Natarajan says. He also notes that the “sheer mathematics” of the Vision Fund means that it needs to find and invest in “dozens of companies” that can absorb $1 billion, if not more, each. “Which naturally means that these companies should have already achieved significant scale — at least in their home markets. And if high valuation is part of that bargain, so be it. One of the bets SoftBank is making as part of the new fund is that its network and reach will help its investee companies replicate their success in other markets internationally and that will enhance their value quite significantly.”
