SoftBank plans AI tour for founders to boost technology adoption

Synopsis SoftBank Group Corp. will take a group of its Indian startup founders to Silicon Valley next month for an artificial intelligence tour as the Japanese investor steps up efforts to infuse its portfolio companies with the technology. ETtech SoftBank Group Corp.

will take a group of its Indian startup founders to Silicon Valley next month for an artificial intelligence tour as the Japanese investor steps up efforts to infuse its portfolio companies with the technology. The investor is helping portfolio companies adopt AI and has been setting up meetings for the founders it backs with the leading players in the field, said Sumer Juneja, managing partner overseeing Europe, Middle East, Africa and India investments at SoftBank’s Vision Fund , in an interview in Mumbai. SoftBank expects to take many of the 20 founders from its India companies on the tour, he said, without naming specific names.

Its portfolio in the country includes Oyo Hotels , ride-hailing provider Ola and delivery firm Swiggy . SoftBank, led by Masayoshi Son, began making startup investments again in the June quarter after coming to a virtual halt as investors soured on money-losing startups. The Japanese company has built up a cash pile of more than $40 billion and is in the process of taking chip designer Arm Holdings Ltd.

public in a deal that will raise additional money. “What we don’t want to do is to invest in a company that misses the AI wave and then three years later turn irrelevant,” Juneja said. “Having a sophisticated tech team and being in the right industry where it could use AI to make the business model even more efficient are must-haves for us to write new cheques.

” Investors are rushing to back AI companies worldwide as products such as ChatGPT are quickly gaining popularity. Companies in many sectors, including software-as-a-service, will become redundant if they don’t adopt AI use cases quickly, according to Juneja. However, the biggest challenge with AI today is how to use it best.

“If you are too late to the AI party, you are toast, and if you are too early, it won’t impact your revenue. We are helping to ensure the transition is right,” he said. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Son invested more than $140 billion in startups after setting up the Vision Fund in 2017, championing the potential of new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

But many of those investments have plummeted in value, including office-sharing startup WeWork Inc. Don’t miss out on ET Prime stories! Get your daily dose of business updates on WhatsApp. click here! Print Edition Monday, 28 Aug, 2023 Experience Your Economic Times Newspaper, The Digital Way! Read Complete Print Edition » Front Page Pure Politics Companies & Economy Disruption Learn more about our print edition More Ecomm, FMCG Demand for EVs in Superfast Lane Demand for electric vehicles (EVs) by ecommerce companies and consumer goods makers of daily essentials has doubled from last year as they look to save costs by over half and meet carbon emission reduction targets, executives said.

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In an interview to Surabhi Agarwal & Bodhisatva Ganguli, Smith, the second-ranking executive (after chairman and CEO Satya Nadella), called artificial intelligence the greatest advancement for human thinking since the invention of the printing press. Read More News on artificial intelligence softbank vision fund softbanks vision fund swiggy oyo hotels ola silicon valley Stay on top of technology and startup news that matters. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest and must-read tech news, delivered straight to your inbox.

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