The corporate's Latin America fund will transition to an independent vehicle called Upload Ventures which will invest approximately $100m each year.
Japan-headquartered internet and telecommunications group SoftBank is spinning off its Latin America Fund into an independent vehicle called Upload Ventures, it announced today.
SoftBank initially launched the vehicle – also known as SoftBank Innovation Fund – under the auspices of group chief operating officer Marcelo Claure in 2019 with a $2bn capital allocation and a $5bn target for its close.
The unit added a $3bn second fund in September 2021, by which time it had built a portfolio including Kavak, the Mexico-based used automotive marketplace most recently valued at $8.7bn, and Brazil-based online real estate portal QuintoAndar, which last raised cash at a $5.1bn valuation.
Claure, however, left the company in January this year, with contemporary reports claiming he had favoured spinning out the fund, only to be overruled by SoftBank chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son.
Reports last week suggested SoftBank is preparing to
