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SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son.
- SoftBank, a Japanese venture capital firm, pumps billions of dollars in capital into tech startups, including through its $100 billion Vision Fund.
- The firm is trying to launch a second $100 billion fund, but the Wall Street Journal reports SoftBank is having trouble finding interested parties to invest their money.
- SoftBank told the Journal that reports the company is having difficulty raising money for the second Vision Fund is "misleading and even inaccurate."
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Japanese investment firm SoftBank has made major waves in the startup industry over the last few years with its $100 billion fund pumping money into tech companies, but the firm is reportedly having trouble trying to replicate its success.
SoftBank has reportedly been working on creating a second Vision Fund, two years after the first one launched in early 2017. However, while SoftBank was able to raise $100 billion for its first one, the company is finding it harder to get investors to contribute to Vision Fund II, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Sources told the Journal that investors are hesitant to hand over money to SoftBank because of issues concerning lack of transparency and the decision-making going into where the money is invested, which led previous contributors to voice their unhappiness. Interested investors reportedly see the Vision Fund as a "bet on the acumen of one person: SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son."
However, SoftBank disputed reports the company is having trouble getting money for its second Vision Fund.
"While we don't comment on fundraising, much of the Wall Street Journal's reporting on investor sentiment is misleading and even inaccurate," a SoftBank spokesperson told Business Insider in an email.
Since launching the first Vision Fund, SoftBank has already burned through more than half of the $100 billion. At its current rate, the company could run through its fund by 2020. With Son's plans to invest $50 billion a year, SoftBank's need to raise money for a second Vision Fund is becoming even more dire to stay on track.
Through its Vision Fund, SoftBank has made massive investments in major tech companies like Uber, WeWork, food-delivery startup DoorDash, and Indian e-commerce retailer Flipkart.