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The Economic Times
The Economic Times

SoftBank completes second $10 billion tranche of its $30 billion OpenAI investment

SoftBank Group has completed the second tranche of its investment in OpenAI, deploying another $10 billion through its Vision Fund 2.

The investment is part of the additional $30 billion commitment SoftBank announced in February. At the time, OpenAI unveiled $110 billion in fresh funding at a pre-money valuation of $730 billion. The round included $30 billion each from SoftBank and Nvidia, alongside $50 billion from Amazon.

SoftBank said it plans to infuse the final $10 billion on October 1.

For the latest tranche, the company said that it borrowed $10 billion on July 1, 2026, under a bridge facility agreement signed on March 27. A bridge facility is a short-term loan that provides immediate funding until longer-term financing or another source of capital becomes available.

Reuters had reported in March that SoftBank had secured an unsecured $40 billion bridge ‌loan to fund investments in OpenAI and for general corporate purposes. The facility, which matures in March 2027, was arranged with lenders including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, and MUFG Bank.

The funding comes shortly after New York Times reported that OpenAI is weighing holding off on its public debut until 2027. According to Bloomberg, the ChatGPT maker believes rival Anthropic is likely to list first, even though both companies have already confidentially filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The IPO delay rattled investors. Japan's Nikkei fell 4% on Friday , erasing most of the previous session's gains, while SoftBank shares slumped more than 12%.

However, OpenAI has become one of SoftBank's biggest bets. In May, the Japanese investment group reported that its net profit had more than tripled to 1.83 trillion yen ($11.60 billion) in the January-March quarter, helped by gains in the value of its investment in the ChatGPT maker.

At the same time, SoftBank's India portfolio remained under pressure. ET had earlier reported that its India-listed holdings accounted for about 15% of the Vision Fund's losses on public investments during the March quarter, reflecting the sharp correction in several recent bets.

Among its listed Indian firms, only eyewear retailer Lenskart delivered gains, with SoftBank booking roughly $100 million. The rest of its listed portfolio — including Swiggy, Ola Electric, Meesho, Delhivery, and FirstCry — lost market value during the quarter.

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