Japanese technology major Softbank's latest cash infusion into two hotly contested fields makes the competition even harder for the incumbents
Softbank Internet and Media Co has announced that it is buying stake worth $627 million in the e-commerce company Snapdeal. Just when India's e-commerce market could not have got any tougher, Snapdeal has added considerable muscle to its operations in India.
This is not a new space for Softbank, it reportedly already owns 34% in the Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba. With this investment, ex-Google honcho and current Softbank VP Nikesh Arora will be the latest addition to the Snapdeal board.
Other than Snapdeal, Softbank is reportedly leading a $210 million investment round in Ola Cabs. The Mumbai based cab aggregator has been facing stiff competition from other newer operators and lately from the likes of Uber.
Masayohi Son, Chairman of Softbank Corp. said, “Since SoftBank’s foundation, our mission has been to contribute to people’s lives through the Information Revolution. We believe India is at a turning point in its development and have confidence that India will grow strongly over the next decade. As part of this belief, we intend to deploy significant capital in India over the next few years to support development of the market.”
Other than these two investments, Softbank Chairman Son also met the PM and other senior Ministers today. He has committed to invest $10 billion in India over the next few years.
SoftBank already has made investments in many Indian companies such as InMobi and Bharti Group-promoted instant messaging platform Hike. With a market cap of $ 92 billion, SoftBank is one of the biggest telecom and internet corporations of Japan with operations in broadband, fixed line telecom, e-Commerce, finance, media and marketing.
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