SoftBank’s portfolio companies, including food-delivery app Swiggy, eyewear brand Lenskart, baby wear retailer FirstCry and B2B commerce startup OfBusiness, are getting ready to hit the Dalal Street soon, Navneet Govil, MD and CEO of SoftBank Vision Fund, was quoted as saying by The Economic Times.
Govnil further said that these startups are at various stages of preparing for their initial public offering, whereas, FirstCry is expected to file its draft IPO papers by the end of 2023.
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Speaking after SoftBank’s quarterly results, Govnil also revealed that 93% of the Japanese group’s portfolio comprising 473 firms boast a positive cash runway of more than 12 months amid a broader correction that has hit the global technology world leading to widespread downsizing across the sector.
SoftBank will also begin investing after a prolonged period of inactivity, after reporting a net loss of $3 billion. “We have two-thirds of the portfolio that's already generating cash or will be generating cash without the need for incremental capital… One-fourth of the portfolio is showing top-line growth of more than 50% while 40% of the portfolio clocked top-line growth of more than 25% in this market,” Govil said
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SoftBank was among the leading investing firms to deploy capital in the startup ecosystem in the 2021 boom period. However, the company has seen many of its portfolio firms shut down or go burst including San-Francisco-based social app IRL.
Also, SoftBank-owned chipmaking company Arm Ltd is also targeting an IPO to raise between $8 billion to $10 billion, at a valuation of $60-$70 billion by September this year, as per Bloomberg report.
An earlier ET report revealed that SoftBank has been selling stakes in both public and private entities in India. It recently sold a part of its holding in Lenskart during a $600 million funding round, most of which was through a secondary share sale. There have also been talks with investors to dilute its holding in FirstCry in a pre-IPO deal.
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SoftBank also sold a part of its stake in Paytm worth $180-200 million.
Govil said SoftBank will look to take new bets in artificial intelligence-focused companies with high growth across India, Europe, Latin America and the US.
“We don't have targets specific to regions, but the SoftBank group has over $40 billion of cash on its balance sheet. In Vision Fund-II, we have $60 billion of commitments and we've only invested $51.5 billion. So, there's $8.5 billion that's available to invest,” Govil further added.