SVB collapse brings Softbank's startup financing under investors' lens

As the world assesses the fallout from Silicon Valley Bank’s implosion, investors are casting a wary eye at SoftBank Group Corp. — by many measures, the startup arena’s biggest backer and advocate.
 

Before the meltdown, Masayoshi Son’s investment powerhouse — which has poured more than $140 billion into names from WeWork to ByteDance Ltd. and DoorDash Inc. — had already been reeling from the post-pandemic economic downturn. Now investors are cautiously pulling back despite the overnight pledge from US authorities to rescue the US lender that sits at the heart of Silicon Valley’s venture capital ecosystem.

SoftBank, similarly central to