SoftBank Vision Fund Raises $93 Billion of $100 Billion Goal from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s PIF, the SoftBank Group and the UAE’s Mubadala Investment Company

The Vision Fund is expected to be active across a wide range of technology sectors, including: IoT, artificial intelligence, robotics, mobile apps, computing, communications infrastructure, telecoms, computational biology and other data-driven business models, cloud technologies and software, consumer internet businesses and fin-tech

By Robert Hoskins

St. Helier, Jersey –  The SoftBank Vision Fund announced its first major close with over U.S.$93 billion of committed capital. In addition to SoftBank Group Corp (SBG) and the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (PIF) as previously announced, investors in the Fund also include the Mubadala Investment Company of the United Arab Emirates (Mubadala), Apple Inc. (Apple), Foxconn Technology Group (Foxconn), Qualcomm Incorporated (Qualcomm) and Sharp Corporation (Sharp).

The Fund is targeting a total of U.S.$100 billion of committed capital, with a final close within six months.

SoftBank Vision Fund announced its first major close with over $93 billion of committed capital

SBG created the SoftBank Vision Fund as a result of its strongly held belief that the next stage of the Information Revolution is underway, and building the businesses that will make this possible will require unprecedented large scale long-term investment. Additionally, the Fund’s portfolio companies are expected to significantly benefit from SBG’s global scale and operational expertise, as well as its ecosystem of group portfolio companies (including Sprint and Yahoo Japan); this will thereby help them to accelerate their own growth profile.

The Fund will be SBG’s primary vehicle to realise its SoftBank 2.0 vision, with preferred access to investments of U.S. $100 million or more that meet the Fund’s investment strategy.

Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. said, “Technology has the potential to address the biggest challenges and risks facing humanity today. The businesses working to solve these problems will require patient long-term capital and visionary strategic investment partners with the resources to nurture their success. SoftBank has long made bold investments in transformative technologies and supported disruptive entrepreneurs. The SoftBank Vision Fund is consistent with this strategy and will help build and grow businesses creating the foundational platforms of the next stage of the Information Revolution.”

H.E. Yasir Al Rumayyan, Managing Director of the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, added, “Our investment in the SoftBank Vision Fund alongside other sovereign and corporate investors is an important part of our overall investment strategy. We are building a portfolio that is diversified across sectors, asset classes and geographies, and expect the Vision Fund to act as a platform to access a range of exciting, emerging opportunities in the technology sector. We expect that this will, in turn, help enable the Public Investment Fund’s role in supporting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy to develop a diversified, knowledge-based economy.”

Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Group CEO of Mubadala Investment Company, said, “Our participation in the SoftBank Vision Fund perfectly complements Mubadala’s strategy as a long-term global investor and partner to the technology sector’s high-growth companies. Technology and innovation are central to the UAE’s economic diversification strategy, and we believe the Vision Fund has the scale to deploy significant capital into these disruptive industries that are shaping the future.”

Investment Strategy

The Fund will target meaningful, long-term investments in companies and foundational platform businesses that seek to enable the next age of innovation.

The Fund will seek to acquire minority and majority interests in both private and public companies, from emerging technology businesses to established, multi-billion dollar companies requiring substantial growth funding.

The Fund is expected to be active across a wide range of technology sectors, including but not limited to: IoT, artificial intelligence, robotics, mobile applications and computing, communications infrastructure and telecoms, computational biology and other data-driven business models, cloud technologies and software, consumer internet businesses and financial technology.

The Fund will have the right to acquire certain investments already acquired (or agreed to be acquired) by the SoftBank Group, including 24.99% of its holding in ARM, and investments in Guardant Health, Intelsat, NVIDIA, OneWeb and SoFi.

Key Leadership

The Fund will be advised by wholly-owned subsidiaries of SBG, known collectively as “SB Investment Advisers.”

Rajeev Misra will serve as the CEO of SB Investment Advisers and will be a member of the Investment Committee. He will play a key role in all Fund transactions, supported by a highly-experienced global team across offices in London, San Carlos, and Tokyo.

Nizar Al-Bassam and Dalinc Ariburnu of newly formed Centricus, who advised on structuring and fund raising efforts for the Vision Fund, will continue their roles as advisers.

ARM group

• SBG’s commitment to invest U.S. $28 billion in the Fund will be partially satisfied through the in-kind contribution of approximately 24.99% of the shares in ARM Holdings plc, at a value of approximately U.S.$8.2 billion.
• ARM will continue to be a consolidated subsidiary of SBG. SBG will continue to control (directly and indirectly) 100% of the voting rights of ARM, through its retained ownership of approximately 75.01% of the shares and its ownership of the entities managing and advising the Fund.
• In the course of discussions with certain investors in the Fund, a portion of ARM was requested to be transferred into the Fund based on the shared vision on the huge growth potential of ARM
• There will be no change to the Board, governance structure or operations of ARM as a result of the transfer.
• The investors in the Fund will not gain any special commercial benefits from ARM’s operating business.

Relationship to SoftBank Group Corp.

• The Fund’s general partner is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBG, as are each of the SB Investment Advisers, including the Fund’s primary investment adviser, SB Investment Advisers (UK) Limited.
• SBG has subscribed for commitments of U.S. $28 billion to the Fund to be contributed through a combination of equity in ARM and cash on hand. The Fund will be consolidated by SBG for accounting purposes.
• While the Fund will be the primary investment vehicle for investments in excess of U.S.$100 million consistent with the Fund’s investment strategy, SBG (and its subsidiaries) may continue to make certain investments outside of the Fund, including (but not limited to) investments in early stage VC, strategic investments done at the operating company level, and/or other investments which do not fall within the Fund’s investment strategy and criteria.

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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation, rewards and equity crowdfunding campaigns.

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Leading Lending-Based Crowdfunding Site Elects Krista Morgan as New Chief Executive Officer

G. Krista Morgan elected by the P2Bi Board of Directors to become the next CEO of the Denver-based crowdfunding platform for business lending

By Robert Hoskins

Denver, CO – P2Binvestor (P2Bi) announced that cofounder Bruce Morgan stepped down as CEO at the Denver-based financial technology company to take the position of executive vice chairman on its board. Cofounder and former President G. Krista Morgan was elected by the P2Bi Board of Directors to become the next CEO effective January 5, 2015. The father-daughter team cofounded P2Bi in 2012, developed a crowdfunding platform to deliver working capital to growing businesses, and started lending in early 2014.

Krista Morgan Named CEO of Commercial Crowdlending Company P2Binvestor based in Denver, CO

By combining technology with crowdsourcing, P2Bi simplifies lending and provides efficient and competitively priced growth capital to small and midsize businesses. The company offers receivables financing, an asset-backed line of credit, working capital secured by contractual future revenue (designed especially for SaaS companies), and purchase order financing.

P2Bi has the capacity to consider multi-million dollar credit lines and lends to U.S. companies in various industries including technology, energy, personnel services, natural foods and beverages, manufacturing, and more. P2Bi’s investor crowd is limited to accredited investor participation. Learn more at P2Bi.com.

“The tremendous growth of P2Binvestor is in large part due to Krista’s diligence in building a new and different company with a competitive product, a superior culture, and an inherent focus on customers,” said John Spiers, P2Bi’s chairman. “She is a natural entrepreneur and leader, and her innovative ideas, energy, commitment to transparency, and passion for helping small businesses grow are unparalleled.”

Krista is a proven executive in alternative finance while also being one of the youngest women in a leadership position in the industry. She left an agency career in digital marketing in London to cofound P2Bi in Colorado in 2012. Since signing the company’s first client in May 2014, she has grown P2Bi’s commercial loan portfolio to $12.5 million, representing 30% month-over-month growth. P2Bi uses invoices to secure most credit lines and in just seven months’ time purchased more than $37 million in invoices.

“Over the past three years, Krista has demonstrated her leadership and strategic skills as she created a strong brand and broad market appeal for P2Bi,” said Bruce Morgan, former CEO and now executive vice chairman of P2Bi. “She created a modern crowdfunding approach to working-capital financing that appeals to a diverse generation of entrepreneurs who aren’t typical users of alternative finance.”

Krista was a key driver in establishing P2Bi’s customer-friendly policies, such as eliminating monthly minimums, minimizing transaction costs for clients, and implementing daily clearing of client accounts to improve their cash flow. She also created a rate-guarantee policy that allows clients to cancel their contracts with P2Bi without penalty if they find less-expensive financing. Krista felt policies like the rate guarantee would make it easier for P2Bi to build mutually beneficial alignment with its banking partners while meeting the needs of its fast-growing business clients.

“We view it as a mark of success when our customers are offered a line of credit at a great rate with a bank. Our financing is designed to be a bridge that supports businesses through a high-growth phase on their way to being bankable,” Krista said. “We pride ourselves in giving our clients as much capital as they need to grow at the most competitive rates with the best service. We want to be a great lending partner for as long as it makes sense.”

Under Krista’s operational leadership, P2Bi transformed from a startup into a revenue-producing player in the alternative-lending and crowdfunding industries. With news of the recent Lending Club IPO, P2Bi is attracting more interest from businesses, investors, and others in the industry.

“My goal as CEO is to put our customers—both businesses and investors—at the center of every decision we make and position P2Bi for long-term success. I want to make P2Bi a company that businesses think of first when they need a flexible, affordable source of working capital and one that accredited investors think of first when they want an alternative investment vehicle that offers fair returns and good liquidity,” Krista said. “I’m honored to be leading an incredible team into the next phase of our company’s growth.”

As executive vice chairman, outgoing CEO Bruce Morgan will remain an active part of the management team and will be responsible for managing relationships with fund managers and leading the company’s credit underwriting function.

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JobsinCrowdfunding.com Launches the Industry’s First Job Recruitment Website for Crowdfunding Professionals in Engineering, Finance, Marketing and #Sales Careers

The advanced career placement platform will connect job seekers with crowdfunding intermediary employers and service providers that are expected to create 170,000 jobs over the next five years

By Robert Hoskins

The booming crowdfunding industry was predicted to blossom to an impressive $5.1 billion industry in 2013 and is expected grow to over $93 billion by 2025.  In the past 12 months more than 600 startups have launched new businesses and are now seeking very specialized crowdfunding careers that have never existed before.  To adapt to this highly personalized demand, JobsinCrowdfunding.com has introduced its next generation recruitment platform, which delivers superior job posting capability, enables employers to access the latest technology for candidate matching and provides the one central specialist site for all Industry job seekers and employers alike.

Jobs in Crowdfunding Launches the Industry’s First Job Recruitment Website for Crowdfunding Professionals for Engineering, Finance, Marketing and Sales Careers

“The Crowdfunding industry needs a hiring solution that is simple, industry specific and most importantly cost-effective,” said Lucia Amador, Limitless People’s CEO.  “Our platform offers a wide range of monthly access packages that can be easily budgeted and will allow small companies to hire as many employees as they need for just one set price, which provides an incredible ROI.”

“Our next generation Jobs in Crowdfunding platform provides employers with advanced ‘anytime’ direct access to industry specific candidates including a customized hiring module that can isolate selected candidates from the open market during the initial interview process to maximize efficiency,” Amador added.

The career placement site offers employers five cost-effective packages, including: Starter, Basic, Standard, Premium and Executive Search.  These packages offer employers an advanced, but affordable hiring solution that addresses their unique recruiting needs quickly and easily.

For crowdfunding startups that have limited resources and budget, Limitless People’s management team offers an Executive Search Package, which allows employers to leverage the firm’s extensive recruitment experience.  Seasoned HR professionals can be utilized to provide customer-tailored job searches allowing crowdfunding companies to stay focused on their core business of raising money for campaign managers.

For crowdfunding intermediaries, Limitless People offers cost effective access packages so that all recruitment activities can be integrated into one place effectively streamlining their candidate search activities rather than posting jobs and collecting candidates from multiple sources to save considerable time and money, while achieving higher results.

For crowdfunding job seekers, the free JobinCrowdfunding.com site is already live and accepting resumes to help candidates find new jobs and careers in the crowdfunding industry.

Limitless People is a worldwide software application development company that specializes in building career placement platforms for the crowdfunding, sports, entertainment, software, recruitment and telecommunications industries. For more information on Limitless People professional services, please visit the company’s website at www.limitlesspeople.com.

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Orange Leap Partners with give2gether to Triple Non-Profit Organizations Fundraising Efforts by Leveraging New Crowdfunding Technology

Crowdfunding CRM software and online fundraising campaigns tap into the power of social media & analytics to grow a large community of supporters and raise funds

By Robert Hoskins

The world of non-profit fundraising is changing dramatically as more and more not-for-profit companies turn to Crowdfunding platforms to raise money and awareness for charity and social good projects. And the tools to make those fundraising campaigns more successful and streamlined efforts are evolving as well.  For example,  Orange Leap developer of cloud-based fundraising and constituent relationship management (CRM) software, partnered with  give2gether to enable online fundraising and peer-to-peer campaigns for non-profits using Orange Leap CRM software.

Fundraising Automation – Orange Leap’s powerful business rules engine automates your routine fundraising and communications processes as well as maintains the integrity of your data so you can focus on building relationships with constituents instead of pulling data.

Orange Leap clients can now utilize give2gether’s platform to promote their cause by communicating with their constituents. give2gether’s unique approach to online fundraising helps non-profits monetize their social media interactions, grow their community of supporters and raise more funds. Acknowledgements and funds generated are distributed automatically alleviating additional work.

“Orange Leap’s non-profit clients can take advantage of give2gether’s powerful online fundraising technology coupled with their Orange Leap donor management system,” said Kent Hollrah , President of Orange Leap. “Our clients simply add a ‘donate now’ button to their website, or launch turn-key social fundraising campaigns throughout the year. By partnering with give2gether, clients can have all their fundraising needs met, including email, social sharing, cause related campaigns, walkathons and team events.”

Arnon Shafir , CEO and Co-founder of give2gether said “We created a ‘do-it-for-me now’ button to let nonprofits instantly create custom campaign pages that are compelling, simple to share, and generating better results. Our expertises in campaign optimization help nonprofits triple their donor conversion rates. Automated deployment takes less than 10 seconds to get started.”

give2gether is a Software-as-a-Service platform for nonprofits to triple donor conversion rates. give2gether’s platform help non-profits launch custom online fundraising campaigns, streamline their crowdfunding, grow communities of supporters and raise more funds. give2gether’s software tool is based on ten years of behavioral research and years of live campaigns, bringing unique, breakthrough insights on why people give online and what makes them inspire, engage and involve others. give2gether improves people’s lives: those who receive, those who give and those who inspire their community to open their hearts for a cause.

Orange Leap helps nonprofits raise more money with fewer resources by streamlining the fundraising process with innovative technology solutions and collaborative support. A cloud-based, Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) technology solutions company, Orange Leap effectively manages donor and constituent relationships; processes donations and tracks gift history; and automates fundraising and marketing communications. The company works with nonprofits focused on reaching and engaging a wide range of missions and constituencies.

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