Meet the crack team of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank
Synopsis
Key people in Bharti SoftBank are Atsushi Taira and Mike Kayamori, latter believed to have played a critical role in structuring Snapdeal investment.
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NEW DELHI/BANGALORE: After realising massive gains from its investments in China, Japanese telecom, internet and media conglomerate SoftBank has now turned its attention to India, deputing a number of its top officials to scout for and invest in promising ventures. In April earlier this year, Softbank announced that it had appointed Eric Gan as executive corporate officer of its investment planning arm.
"He has been taking a keen interest in India too, since most of the action is happening here and valuations are reasonable compared to anywhere else in the world." Joining Gan are Katsumasa Niki, general manager, investment planning department and Ming Maa, an investment analyst. Niki joined SoftBank in April and sits on the board of companies including Supercell, Bloom Energy Japan and Renren.
Maa on the other hand served as the vice president, merchant banking division at Goldman Sachs and principal at Ancora Capital Management before he joined the Japanese conglomerate in July earlier this year. According to industry experts, SoftBank will invest in the country largely through two routes – a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises called Bharti SoftBank and venture capital arm, SoftBank China and India Holdings.
The key people in Bharti SoftBank are CEO Atsushi Taira and director Mike Kayamori, with the latter believed to have played a critical role in structuring the Japanese conglomerate’s $600-$650 million investment in online marketplace Snapdeal. It was also in news recently when one of its incubated startups – mobile messaging service Hike – raised $65 million, in a round led by Tiger Global.
SoftBank China and India Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank, manages the Bodhi Fund that invests in early-stage and pre-IPO companies in China, India and Southeast Asia, and in which Cisco Systems is a strategic investor.Led by Kabir Misra, the VC arm has invested in Indian companies, such as Komli Media and PropTiger. There is also SoftBank Capital, which has invested in The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and Zynga.
While its early-stage investments are largely focused on US business, growthstage investments focus on investments in the US as well as Asia, counts assets such as Alibaba Group, Yahoo! Japan and Sprint. More recently, under former Google chief business officer Nikesh Arora, SoftBank has also created SoftBank Internet and Media, which is very aggressively looking at overseas investments, including movie studios.
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The 51-year-old Gan, who earlier worked with Goldman Sachs as a research analyst, also serves as the CEO of SoftBank-backed Ymobile. "Since Eric joined SoftBank, his focus has been new investment markets and companies," said a source on the condition of anonymity."He has been taking a keen interest in India too, since most of the action is happening here and valuations are reasonable compared to anywhere else in the world." Joining Gan are Katsumasa Niki, general manager, investment planning department and Ming Maa, an investment analyst. Niki joined SoftBank in April and sits on the board of companies including Supercell, Bloom Energy Japan and Renren.
Maa on the other hand served as the vice president, merchant banking division at Goldman Sachs and principal at Ancora Capital Management before he joined the Japanese conglomerate in July earlier this year. According to industry experts, SoftBank will invest in the country largely through two routes – a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises called Bharti SoftBank and venture capital arm, SoftBank China and India Holdings.
The key people in Bharti SoftBank are CEO Atsushi Taira and director Mike Kayamori, with the latter believed to have played a critical role in structuring the Japanese conglomerate’s $600-$650 million investment in online marketplace Snapdeal. It was also in news recently when one of its incubated startups – mobile messaging service Hike – raised $65 million, in a round led by Tiger Global.
SoftBank China and India Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank, manages the Bodhi Fund that invests in early-stage and pre-IPO companies in China, India and Southeast Asia, and in which Cisco Systems is a strategic investor.Led by Kabir Misra, the VC arm has invested in Indian companies, such as Komli Media and PropTiger. There is also SoftBank Capital, which has invested in The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and Zynga.
While its early-stage investments are largely focused on US business, growthstage investments focus on investments in the US as well as Asia, counts assets such as Alibaba Group, Yahoo! Japan and Sprint. More recently, under former Google chief business officer Nikesh Arora, SoftBank has also created SoftBank Internet and Media, which is very aggressively looking at overseas investments, including movie studios.