(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group Corp. added a Japanese startup specializing in endoscopy to its list of portfolio companies, making the third Vision Fund investment in its home country.
The world’s largest tech fund is leading an 8 billion yen ($63 million) investment in AI Medical Service Inc., which develops systems and software for gastrointestinal diagnostics, using artificial intelligence to help clinicians more reliably identify potential cancers of the stomach and intestines.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 made the group’s first investment in a Japanese startup in November by taking a stake in pharmaceuticals firm Aculys Pharma LLC. Aculys has the rights to develop and sell pitolisant, used to treat narcolepsy and sleep apnea in Europe. That was followed by an investment in Soda Inc., a startup that operates an online marketplace for sneakers and streetwear. All three of SoftBank’s Japan investments have been made by the Vision Fund 2, which typically takes smaller stakes in early-stage companies than the original Vision Fund.
AI Medical “is a company that has the potential to take its business to the global market, not just Japan,” said Kentaro Matsui, who oversees the SoftBank Vision Fund team in Japan. “We anticipate its foray overseas once it succeeds in the local market.”
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Founder Masayoshi Son said earlier this year that SoftBank plans to expand its Japan investment team, adding staff and stepping up deal-making after putting little of its money into its home country in the past.
Son raised about $100 billion for his first Vision Fund and has allocated $51 billion for the second, putting most of his investments overseas with a particular focus on the U.S. and China.
Matsui told Bloomberg in an interview in January that Japan is “emerging as a center of technology innovation, particularly in sectors such as biotech and frontier tech.”
(Updates with amount of investment in second paragraph)
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