SoftBank Investment Advisers, which runs SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Funds, has given additional responsibilities to oversee its European investments to managing partner Sumer Juneja, a person close to the development told VCCircle.
Juneja, who joined SoftBank in 2018 as country head for India 2018 and was promoted to managing partner last year, will relocate to London, the person cited above said on the condition of anonymity. Prior to joining SoftBank, Juneja was a top executive at multi-stage venture capital and growth equity investment firm Norwest Venture Partners.
An email sent to Softbank did not elicit an immediate response.
The additional responsibilities for Juneja come amid management churn at SoftBank Investment Advisers as Vision Fund losses mount. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Rajeev Misra will step back from his main role at SoftBank Global Advisers, which manages the second Vision fund, and launch his own external fund. Misra was CEO, SoftBank Investment Advisers and executive vice president at SoftBank Group Corp.
Later in the month, Bloomberg reported that Yanni Pipilis and Munish Varma, both managing partners at SoftBank Investment Advisers, are also leaving to join the fund led by Misra.
Their impending departures come as Vison Fund, known for cutting big ticket cheques to startups globally including in India, posted a $23.1 billion loss in the April-June quarter. During the quarter it had approved investments worth around $600 million, compared with $20.6 billion in the same period last year.
Masayoshi Son, CEO at SoftBank in May said it may cut its startup investments in this fiscal year ending March 2023. Last month, he further said that it will limit the second Vision Fund just to managing its current portfolio of investments, while planning workforce cuts as well at the fund. "We need to cut costs with no sacred areas," said Son.
Its recent investments in India made from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 include consumer tech startups such as Lenskart, Meesho, and Unacademy, as well as software as a service, or SaaS, investments such as Juspay and Whatfix.
