According to foreign media reports, Softbank group will continue to invest in Latin America this year, and its main objectives will include start-ups from e-commerce, health care and financial technology industries.
In the first quarter of 2019, Softbank established a Latin American fund with a total size of 5 billion US dollars. After investing 1.6 billion US dollars last year, the Japanese giant plans to continue to invest 1 billion US dollars here in 2020. Up to now, the fund has invested in 17 enterprises and 2 venture capital institutions, with the investment amount between us $100-150 million. Softbank has targeted about 650 companies in the region.
Softbank's current investments in the region include RAPPI, a distribution company from Colombia, Gympass, a Brazilian fitness company, and Uala, an Argentine financial technology company. Softbank is also looking for companies in Latin America that use artificial intelligence in the food industry, especially those focused on vegetarianism.
In addition to the investment, Softbank will launch an 11-week project at correlation one to train AI experts. In addition, Softbank will continue to make direct investment in venture capital institutions. In 2019, Softbank purchased $130 million of shares in Kaszek ventures, a venture capital company, and invested $100 million in valor capital group.
More than 50% of Softbank's investments in Latin America come from Brazil.
