SoftBank Group Corp has teamed up with the Chinese firm, GCL System Integration Technology Co Ltd., to invest $ 930 million in the field of solar energy in India. The venture aims at working on the photovoltaic technology used in solar panels. While GCL will provide the technology, SoftBank will assist in obtaining land and regulating approvals.
SoftBank said in 2015 that it would invest up to $ 20 billion along with Foxconn Technology Co Ltd., and Bharti Enterprises in solar projects in India, which has a goal of generating 100 gigawatts (GW) of power from solar by 2022. The new joint venture between GCL and SoftBank will eventually have a capacity of 4GW, with the implementation being carried out in 2GW installments.
The Japanese firm will hold 60% of the venture’s shares while GCl will hold the remaining 40%. Incidentally, SoftBank said it would invest in building the largest solar power project in Saudi Arabia. According to reports, this project is expected to cost around $ 200 billion and will have the capacity to produce around 200 GW by the year 2030.
Funding for this new venture will come from the SoftBank Vision Fund. The Fund consists of Apple Inc., Foxconn and a number of Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund among its brackets. As of last May, the Fund raised around $ 93 billion, thereby making it the largest private equity fund in the world. With the tech world booming, SoftBank has increased the number of investments it has been making.
In fact, it seems that with the passing of every week, the number of investments made by SoftBank has been increasing. Led by Recode 100 honoree, Masayoshi Son, the Japanese company has quite literally changed the startup landscape. While it is a hero to the startup world, it is quite the villain to the other venture capitalists. In fact, in the last year, SoftBank was involved in more than ten of the largest VC investments.