SoftBank’s monster Vision Fund to invest $5bn in Ele.me
Hong Kong — SoftBank Group’s huge Vision Fund plans to lead an investment of $3bn to $5bn into Ele.me, the food delivery giant owned by Alibaba Group Holding, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The near-$100bn fund led by Masayoshi Son is heading up discussions with potential investors including venture capital firms, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private deal. As part of the agreement, Alibaba intends to merge Ele.me with in-house arm Koubei, which focuses on connecting restaurants to the internet, the people added. Negotiations are ongoing and the terms could still change, they said. The financing presents a much-needed capital infusion for Ele.me, which is burning enormous amounts of cash in a competition with Meituan Dianping, the Chinese internet giant backed by Alibaba-foe Tencent Holdings. While it is unclear how big a stake is available in Ele.me, which was valued at $9.5bn in Alibaba’s April acquisition, investors get a piece of ...
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