SoftBank's Vision Funds lost more than $27 billion in the last fiscal year, by far their worst performance on record, CNN reports. CEO Masayoshi Son said he will now play defence and be more selective about investments. Google teased its Pixel watch at its I/O conference, planned for a launch around September. Sachin Bansal adds Vidit Aatrey to Navi’s board. And Ather has raised more money.
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SoftBank's Vision Funds lost more than $27 billion in the last fiscal year, by far their worst performance on record, CNN reports after the Japanese company reported earnings on May 12.
The world's biggest tech investor said Thursday that the funds had recorded a loss of 3.5 trillion yen ($27.5 billion) in the year ended March. That was a significant reversal from the unit's performance from last year, when it had logged a healthy profit, according to CNN.
At an earnings presentation in Tokyo, CEO Masayoshi Son acknowledged the losses and pledged to start taking a more conservative approach.
"We, SoftBank, should be taking defence," he said, with the word Defense emblazoned on one of the slides of a presentation as well.
Going forward, SoftBank will be more selective about which deals to take on, roll out stricter criteria for new investments, and focus on improving returns from its portfolio companies, he added.
Google announced its long-awaited Pixel Watch on Wednesday, furthering the tech giant's expansion into hardware, CNET reports. The company teased its first smartwatch during its Google I/O conference but plans to reveal more details closer to the device's fall launch. Fall in the US starts towards the end of September.
The watch has a domed circular design, runs on Google's Wear OS smartwatch software and includes some Fitbit health-tracking features. Google didn't announce a price but said it will be sold as a premium product, according to CNET.
Ather Energy, one of India’s leading electric two-wheeler companies, has raised $128 million in its Series E funding round, with investors including National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited’s Strategic Opportunities Fund, Hero MotoCorp, and others. Ather Energy plans to use the funding to expand manufacturing facilities, invest in research and development, charging infrastructure and expand its retail network.
The company registered its highest ever monthly sales, in April 2022, delivering 3,779 units to customers. Booking orders for Ather Energy’s flagship product, the Ather 450X is growing at 25 percent quarter-on-quarter. Ather Energy is present in 32 cities with 38 showrooms and aims to expand to 150 in 100 cities by 2023.
Navi Technologies Limited, Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal’s financial services company, has appointed Vidit Aatrey, co-founder and CEO of Meesho as an independent director on its board of directors, effective April 9, 2022.
Aatrey joins three other independent directors, Abhijit Bose, Shripad Nadkarni and Usha Narayanan. Navi’s board now comprises seven members, including Bansal, co-founder Ankit Agrawal and Anand Sinha, a former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, the company said in a press release.
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