Despite submitting term sheets promising hundreds of millions of dollars in investment months ago, SoftBank has backed out of a number of investments recently, raising eyebrows and blood pressures across the startup world, Axios reports.
SoftBank claims it’s not bailing entirely…
And it says it’s just taking a long time to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. But that’s not an answer that satisfies spurned startup founders.
So, who has SoftBank snubbed?
- Honor, which provides home care for the elderly, reportedly received a $150m term sheet from SoftBank in November.
- Seismic, which makes business-to-business sales software, reportedly received a term sheet from SoftBank in August.
- Creator, which develops hamburger-making robots, reportedly received a term sheet from SoftBank several months ago for “many multiples” of the $25m it had raised up to that point.
But then SoftBank bailed on all 3 of these startups…
And SoftBank didn’t give any reasons for backing out
Now, these screwed-over startups are struggling to recover from their failed fundraising efforts — but they won’t get back the time they wasted negotiating with SoftBank.
But SoftBank’s strange behavior also exposes a crack in the once-glossy veneer of the company’s infamous Vision Fund — and it’s hard not to think that SoftBank’s soured investment in WeWork had something to do with its chronic case of cold feet…
