On Wednesday, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son met with startup founders to discuss topics like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Gen AI potential, investments, and collaborations. Founders from over 10-12 startups, including Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Lenskart co-founder Peyush Bansal, Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal, and InMobi founder Naveen Tewari, attended the meeting. According to sources familiar with the meeting, the main focus was on AI and its future.
Son later held one-on-one discussions with a few founders, including Tewari and Aggarwal. Tewari shared insights into InMobi’s work and its AI-based software company, Glance, in the GenAI space. SoftBank first invested in InMobi in 2011, which became India’s first unicorn startup after SoftBank’s $200 million investment.
Sources noted that Son expressed interest in Glance and suggested that SoftBank may invest in it in the future, as it is already backed by investors like Google and Jio Platforms.
Aggarwal also had a meeting with Son and shared a picture on X, saying, “Always amazing to meet @masason. Such a stimulating conversation on India, AI, AGI, and energy. Together, we shall shape India’s future.
Son’s visit follows his trip to India last year. SoftBank’s portfolio in India includes around 27 startups, such as Swiggy, Ola Electric, FirstCry, InMobi, and Lenskart. Reports also mentioned that Son had met Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani. SoftBank’s portfolio company OfBusiness is planning to go public next year.
Furthermore, it has been reported that OpenAI, which is supported by Microsoft, is permitting its workers to sell SoftBank $1.5 billion worth of shares.
In the September quarter, SoftBank posted a $7.7 billion profit and has been heavily investing in AI and Indian startups. The company has invested around $15 billion in Indian firms and discussed opportunities in chip design during his visit, with potential future investments in India.
