SoftBank invests in Mubadala's new $400 million European tech fund: source

The logo of SoftBank Group Corp is displayed at SoftBank World 2017 conference in Tokyo, Japan, July 20, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Japan’s SoftBank Group has provided nearly half of the cash for Abu Dhabi’s state investor Mubadala Investment Co’s new $400 million fund investing in European start-ups, a source familiar with the matter said.

Mubadala, which has committed to invest $15 billion in SoftBank’s Vision Fund, last week announced that Mubadala Ventures was planning to launch a $400 million technology-focused European fund this year.

Softbank and Mubadala declined to comment on the story, first reported by the Financial Times earlier on Monday.

The Softbank Vision Fund, managed by Softbank Group, raised more than $93 billion from investors including the Abu Dhabi investor, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Apple Inc, Foxconn, Qualcomm, Sharp Corp and SoftBank Group Corp.

The European venture fund, which has already made a few undisclosed investments, will be run from a new office in London, the FT said.

In late 2017 Mubadala had announced the setting up of a venture capital arm that it said will oversee an early growth fund set up with Japan’s SoftBank. The ventures team was to be based in San Francisco, its first office in the United States.

Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment manages a $225 billion portfolio.

Reuters.com