SoftBank recalibrates India strategy amid exits and renewed AI focus

SoftBank’s recent activity in India points to a strategic reset rather than a withdrawal. While the global investor continues to execute partial and full exits from several Indian startups, it is simultaneously building a new pipeline of investments, with artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure and enterprise technology emerging as core focus areas.

This shift is also reflected in recent deployment trends. Data compiled by TheKredible shows that SoftBank made no new investments in 2025, but did take part in a follow-on round, with portfolio firm Juspay raising $60 million in a Series D in April 2025. The Japanese investor also remained largely inactive in 2023 and 2024. Once seen as a prolific unicorn maker alongside Tiger Global, SoftBank funded 14 startups in 2021, compared with five in 2022. 

As per media reports, SoftBank has invested over $10.6 billion in around 20 Indian companies, including Flipkart, Oyo, OfBusiness, Eruditus, Icertis, Whatfix, Mindtickle, ElasticRun, Unacademy and GlobalBees.

AI emerges as key theme in potential new bets

SoftBank is currently in talks to invest in multiple India linked AI startups. It is evaluating participation in Emergent’s $60 million funding round, an AI platform backed by Khosla Ventures. Separately, SoftBank is also said to be exploring a potential investment in Neysa, an Indian AI cloud infrastructure startup, alongside Blackstone.

These upcoming investments signal a clear preference for enterprise focused platforms with global scalability and predictable revenue models.

Exits continue but SoftBank pushes back on narrative

SoftBank has monetised several Indian bets in 2025 through a mix of founder buybacks, secondary sales, and IPO offer-for-sale transactions. These include exits or stake reductions in InMobi, Lenskart and Ola Electric. The firm partially exited InMobi through a founder-led buyback, pared its holding in Lenskart via both IPO and post-IPO secondary transactions, and reduced its stake in Ola Electric. In the past it also sold stakes in Delhivery and FirstCry.

However, the firm has pushed back against the perception that these transactions signal a pullback from India.

SoftBank India head Sumer Juneja told Moneycontrol that the firm is competing with IPOs for capital allocation, calling it a positive development for the ecosystem. He said SoftBank is not in exit mode and intends to remain active in the Indian market, adding that the firm has a strong pipeline and confidence in future capital deployment.

Since January 2021, SoftBank has backed around 10 of the nearly 50 new age startups that have gone public. Looking ahead, portfolio companies Flipkart and OYO are among those expected to pursue IPOs in 2026.

Even as it prepares for fresh listings, SoftBank has monetised a significant part of its India portfolio in recent years. According to a Mint report, the investor has clocked over $7.2 billion from India exits, including public market sell downs in Paytm, Policybazaar and Zomato. Its listed portfolio also includes FirstCry, Delhivery and Swiggy.

Capital discipline and evolving cheque sizes

SoftBank’s India strategy mirrors its broader global shift towards capital discipline. As reported earlier by Entrackr, SoftBank returned to profitability in FY25, posting a $7.4 billion profit, driven by tighter controls and renewed bets on AI and semiconductor related opportunities.

Industry reports indicate that SoftBank is also open to more flexible cheque sizes going forward, including smaller initial investments, especially in AI driven companies. This marks a departure from its earlier preference for large late stage rounds and reflects changing market conditions and valuation expectations.

Deep tech funds provide broader ecosystem context

India saw fresh deep-tech fund launches in 2025, with capital directed toward artificial intelligence and advanced technologies. Yali Capital closed a Rs 893 crore ($104 million) deep-tech fund in July 2025, while IIT Bombay’s SINE incubator launched a Rs 250 crore ($30 million) early-stage fund in December 2025. Government-led policy measures and funding programmes also continued during the year.

While an investor like Softbank can hardly be judged on data from a year or two, with sub $10 million rounds hardly seen as consequential, we believe the firm could change its stance when it feels the time is right. This is a fiirm that has not held back from writing out multi hundred million dollar cheques, and will probably do it again when it sees enough of a possibility in a firm to be able to use that to scale massively. The returns out of India have continued to build, and residual value of its investments here are not too far from making it a success story for Softbank. Probably just a small bull market away. As we said earlier, besides IPOs, the firm possibly faces competition from large Indian conglomerates that have increasingly diversified into newer segments backed by their ability to raise money, influence policy and build teams. Especially in sectors like Healthcare, green energy, data centres etc. AI is still finding its feet in this country, in terms of where and how Indian talent can add the most value and impact, and as we get closer to that answer, it would be no surprise to see the likes of Softbank and others ready with massive cheques. Maybe by the year's end, maybe by 2027, but you have to believe that Indian entrepreneurs are too smart to take any longer than that.