Tag Archives: softbank

The U.S.-based provider of shared workspaces for technology startups and services for other enterprises WeWork sells Managed by Q unit acquired earlier this year. As the company’s spokesperson stated, the sum of purchase made up about $220 million at that time, however, now the deal will cost less than a quarter of this price.According to Bloomberg, the decision to sell Managed by Q results from WeWork’s need to cut its costs and unload assets. Currently, WeWork is in private talks with...

OneConnect Financial Technology which is the artificial intelligence and blockchain arm of Ping An Insurance that is easily one of the largest insurance firms in China has come forth with the terms for its IPO valued at $468 Million. Sources indicate that based on the F-1 Filing of its prospectus with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the firm intends to conduct the initial public offering which is aimed at raising between $432 million and $504 million via issuing...

Now, we all know SoftBank for its “unicorn status” investment decisions and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to many that the investment giant has participated in a Series A round of funding for Accel Robotics which is a San Diego-based startup that has been involved in the cashierless space for a bit now. The funding round also attracted other investors including Toyo Kanetsu Corporate Venture Investment Partnership, RevTech Ventures and New Ground Ventures.Accel Robotics and other...

As we are coming to the year’s end we somehow always tend to look in the past to reconcile what was good and what wasn’t. Speaking of the IPOs, we can surely say this year was marked by numerous IPO failures with more than half of stock market debuts now trading below their initial offering.We can just mention hail-raiding companies as are Uber and Lyft who were probably the biggest losers of the year. However, there were also plenty of unicorns that got smashed in 2019 including Peloton (the...

While it may sound like a story out of the movies or motivational books that many people read today, the story of Bom Kim who is the founder of Coupang, a $9 billion electronic commerce company has been inspiring through an through. Coupang has been described by many to be South Korea’s “Amazon”, an appellation that hasn’t been accorded to any other company; at least not yet. Coupang has been one of those companies that have had a history of disruption and reinvention which has helped make it...

The current roller-coaster that has hit the crypto space does not seem to prevent new investments in the industry. In that connection, Tokyo-based telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank has introduced a new bank card. The firm says that it can be used either as a traditional debit card or blockchain wallet.According to a December 1 press release, SoftBank has come up with a debit card that has a built-in blockchain wallet functions. This milestone development was made in partnership with...

Softbank, one of the popular banks in Japan, has announced the introduction of a new type of debit card for its clients. Reportedly, the bank will start providing debit cards equipped with Internet of Things (IoT) chips, and it would be usable as a cryptocurrency wallet as well.Softbank Launches Cryptocurrency Debit CardThe popular Japanese bank, Softbank, announced today a new debit card that seeks to implement cryptocurrencies into traditional market products. As with any regular debit...

Fintech startup Ualá which is a finance app that helps people with all things financial has just finished its Series C funding to the tune of $150 million. This round was led by Tencent and Softbank’s Innovation Fund which has as its specific aim the Mercursour region. The app functions very much like Monzo, Nubank and Revolut but this time the focus of this app is on the Argentine market without the trappings and requirements of financial institutions and regulations. With its CEO Pierpaolo...

India’s digital payments company Paytm said it got new funding from its shareholders but also some new investors. SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund, Ant Financial and Discovery Capital will, therefore, together with new investors advised by T. Rowe Price Group Inc. fund Paytm to get it in front of its competitors as the country’s finance sector is slightly beginning to grill.From Ant Financial they said they have been searching for investment opportunities in Southeast Asia in order to...

In what seems like an end to a disappointing year for troubled startup WeWork the company recently announced its intention to lay off 2,400 workers from the company following near collapse. The once-famed startup announced this on Thursday. The layoffs amount to roughly 20% of its 12,500 strong workforces. Some more layoffs of over 1,000 people are expected as several business units of the company are going to be shut down, merged or sold off as the company refocuses and resets several...