SoftBank India head Sumer Juneja to now manage Europe, Middle East, Africa portfolio

Updated on: 22 August 2022 4:31 pm

The scale-up platform plans to lead or co-lead a $25-40 million round, investing in four to five start-ups each year

Nandan Nilekani's Fundamentum Partnership launches second fund, raises $227 million Photo: The scale-up platform plans to lead or co-lead a $25-40 million round, investing in four to five start-ups each year

SoftBank Investment Advisers' Sumer Juneja's responsibilities have been further augmented. In addition to his current position as managing partner and head of India, he will now manage investments in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions.

Though stationed in Mumbai, Juneja will now spend time in the investment company's London office to oversee this region. He will be assisted by Sarthak Misra and Narendra Rathi, investment directors at Softbank's Indian office.

Juneja's enhanced role comes as the Japanese conglomerate aggressively pushes to increase its overall assets under management (AUM) in these countries. These currently amount to 10 per cent of its comprehensive portfolio under Vision Fund and Vision Fund 2. Several Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are part of the Vision Fund, while Masayoshi Son holds 17.25 per cent of a vehicle set up under the latter for its unlisted holdings.

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Juneja's appointment will also fill the vacuum left in the Masayoshi San-led company following the exit of Yanni Pipilis and Munish Varma, former managing partners at SB Investment Advisers. The two veterans, who oversaw SoftBank's Vision Fund operation, are reportedly joining a new investment firm led by Rajeev Misra, another Softbank executive.

The past few months have shone a spotlight on some decisions taken by Son and their ripple effect. SoftBank announced a record $23.4 billion loss for the April to June quarter, triggered by a deteriorating value of some of its key companies like DoorDash Inc, Coupang Inc and SenseTime Group Ltd. The company decided to implement sweeping cost cuts to shore up its finances and adopt a cautious pace of investments.

According to the company's disclosures for the April to June quarter, Son himself racked up a $2.1 billion deficit from his Vision Fund 2 interest. The Japanese billionaire deposited his personal tranche of 8.9 million shares as collateral for the fund.