SoftBank Vision Fund Head Misra to Step Aside

The head of SoftBank’s venture investing business is stepping aside from that role to oversee a new investment fund outside the business.

Rajeev Misra will remain with SoftBank in a limited capacity, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Thursday (June 7), citing an in-house memo. Misra will be in charge of the company’s original Vision Fund investments but will step back from its off-shoot, Vision Fund 2.

Misra’s new venture will be backed by a set of investment funds based in Abu Dhabi, according to the report.

Misra has been with SoftBank since 2014 and helped make it the world’s biggest tech investor, with an unsurpassed $100 billion pool. His largest claim to fame was the Vision Fund and its varied track record, the report stated.

There were successes, like DoorDash and Korean eCommerce giant Coupang, as well as several missteps, such as SoftBank’s $45.6 billion investment in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Klarna. Last week, the Swedish company began preparations to raise new funds, a move that has reduced its valuation to roughly $6.5 billion, a drop of nearly 90% since last year, according to the report.

In June, Klarna was tabbed with a $15 billion valuation, itself a drop in value from the $30 billion level the company was given in May. The economic downturn saw Klarna lose 2.57 billion Swedish krona — or $250 million — earlier this year, leading the company to announce plans to lay off 10% of its workforce.

Read more: Klarna Goes Shopping for Capital at $6B Valuation

The Vision Fund has also suffered this year due to the market’s tech sell-off, with the stocks that make up much of the fund falling by more than half between January and May.

See more: SoftBank’s Vision Fund Suffers Amid Tech Stock Slide

In April, SoftBank pulled its funding from Light, a Redwood City, California-based camera startup, as the company began to abandon some of its loss-making ventures to stick to stricter investment criteria.

Read more: SoftBank Cuts Spending, Leaving Camera Startup Light Scrambling for Cash