Rajeev Misra, the top Indian dealmaker at SoftBank, is stepping down from his leadership roles at the Japanese fund’s flagship investment vehicles. The announcement marks the end of Misra’s influential tenure, during which he steered the $100-billion Vision Fund through quite a few crests and troughs.
Alex Clavel will assume the role of sole Chief Executive Officer at SoftBank Investment Advisers (SBIA) and SoftBank Global Advisers (SBGA) following Misra’s departure. Going forward, Misra will hold no operational or management role at SoftBank, according to the announcement. Clavel has been co-CEO of SBIA until now.
Misra, 62, played a critical role in raising the Vision Fund, the largest pool of private capital that disrupted technology investing globally. The transition follows his earlier decision in August 2022 to step back from his roles as CEO and executive vice president of SoftBank Group to launch his new venture, One Investment Management, with a corpus of around $7 billion, which is expected to make both debt and equity deals.
Since then, Misra has been managing only legacy investments from the first edition of SoftBank Vision Fund. “His key role (at SoftBank) is over,” said Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto during the earnings call on Tuesday, marking the official end to Misra’s 10-year tenure with the Japanese investment giant. “He will no longer play a central role or be a member of management. That relationship will not continue.”
One of SoftBank’s major investments, Swiggy, is set to list on the bourses on Wednesday in a $1.3-billion IPO.
Misra, a finance veteran with stints at Deutsche Bank and UBS AG, led the Vision Fund since its inception in 2017. The fund gained prominence with investments in high-profile, loss-making startups at aggressive valuations. Its portfolio includes Uber, WeWork and China’s Didi Global, among hundreds of others. In India, it has backed companies such as Flipkart, Delhivery, Meesho and Icertis.
India IPOs lift profits
Meanwhile, the Japanese group reported record profits over the last two years, reaching nearly $8 billion during the September quarter, largely due to successful IPOs from Indian firms FirstCry and Ola Electric.
While the financials are as of September, Ola Electric’s stock has faced a downturn due to consumer complaints, rising competition from traditional scooter makers entering the EV sector, and other factors. FirstCry, which sells baby and mother care products, listed at a 40% premium to the issue price of Rs 461. As of Tuesday, its per-share price stood at Rs 532.25 on the BSE.
SoftBank also liquidated stakes worth close to $2 billion over the past few years from private and public investments, excluding the aforementioned IPOs in 2024.
The value of SoftBank’s stake in Didi Global and South Korea’s Coupang also rose during the quarter amid a market recovery.
In an interview with ET on October 22, Clavel noted that India is among SoftBank’s top-performing markets following a wave of portfolio firms going public. “India is the world’s most successful IPO market of 2024,” he said, adding that other markets, including the US, have not seen as many IPOs, even outside of tech.
