Tech Roundup: How much is SoftBank investing in Brazil?

You’re reading The Brazilian Report‘s weekly tech roundup, a digest of the most important news about technology and innovation in Brazil. This week’s topics: SoftBank invests in Banco Inter. Artificial Intelligence in Brazil. Uber’s challenges. Rio, the most Instagrammable city in the world. Happy reading!

SoftBank pouring money into Brazil

Investment behemoth SoftBank invested in yet another Brazilian startup earlier this week, offering fintech Banco Inter USD 198 million for an 8-percent stake. The fintech competes in the same market as what was reportedly SoftBank’s first choice, Nubank. Both startups are online platforms that provide banking services with no annual fees. Banco Inter, now valued at USD 700 million, saw its shares spike 17.5 percent after website Brazil Journal and Bloomberg published that SoftBank had invested BRL 1 billion for a 10-percent stake.

This is the second Brazilian fintech in which SoftBank has invested, the other being loan platform Creditas. The multinational, which focuses on late-stage investment rounds, has fingers in many tech pies. Its investments pushed both e-commerce app Loggi and gym network Gympass to unicorn status (for startups valued at more than USD 1 billion). The company also invests heavily in American coworking startup WeWork, which has opened 27 locations in Brazil in the past two years.

SoftBank launched its Innovation Fund for Latin America in March. With USD 5 billion in venture capital to be applied in Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, the investments show no signs of stopping. A few days ago, the company announced its second round of the Vision Fund in the neat sum of USD 100 billion, to be used worldwide. 

A look into SoftBank’s history

Founded as a telecom company in 1981, SoftBank has emerged as a global leader in startup investment. The Vision Fund is backed in part by Japan’s three megabanks—MUFG, Mizuho, and SMFG—tech giants Microsoft and Apple, and sovereign wealth funds from Asia and the Middle East and North Africa.

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