A vision fund, a beacon for entrepreneurs? Underlight?
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Silicon Rabbit Race” (ID: sv_race).
Author | Baldy
Responsible Editor | Zi
Beauty Editor | Ivana
Sun Zhengyi and SoftBank How will the unicorns held by the Vision Fund end?
If there are any unstoppable events in the venture capital field in 2019, it is estimated that the ups and downs in the investment of the SoftBank Vision Fund will be counted as one of them.
The world’s largest VC fund with a scale of 100 billion U.S. dollars established in 2017 has had a difficult time, especially in a retrograde year.
According to the latest financial report, SoftBank has suffered quarterly losses for the first time in 14 years, and the vision book’s investment in Uber and WeWork has a book loss of US $ 8.7 billion.
In the top three explosive news of the venture capital circle last year, SoftBank Vision Fund has at least two sides.
In May, Uber, the world’s largest unicorn, was finally listed after all kinds of turbulence. However, this listing may not even be satisfactory.
In August, WeWork, the world ’s largest shared space project invested by Vision Fund, finally issued a prospectus and started the listing process. However, only two months later, WeWork ’s valuation was cut again and the scandal continued. The founder was out and SoftBank took over. This unicorn listed farce came to an end, not even a hasty end.
Since then, an unprecedented infectious disease has erupted among Portfolio of SoftBank Vision, Wag! , Brandless, Compass, Fair, Kattera, Rappi …
Unfortunate infections one by one.
Executive management departures, mass layoffs, and valuations are crumbling, Unicorns whose valuations were propped up by Sun Zhengyi’s hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, what did they experience in 2019? What kind of love-hate struggle with SoftBank?
Brandless: Management turmoil, sales halved
Burst time: March 2019
In March 2019, Tina Sharkey resigned as CEO of Brandless. According to the US technology media The Information report, the main reason is “tensed relations with SoftBank”. After Tina left, Brandless took another three months to find a new CEO, during which many executives left.
As an affordable comprehensive e-commerce brand, Brandless focuses on home and healthy lifestyle products. Many products sell for only a few dollars. It is the representative brand of DTC (product direct sales consumer) that has flourished in the United States in the past few years.
In 2018, Softbank took a fancy to Brandless, with an opening price of US $ 200 million and a valuation of US $ 500 million. Softbank will receive 40% of the shares.
However, it is reported that SoftBank actually only invested US $ 100 million, and the remaining US $ 100 million may be because Brandless has not reached the financial position.Business request.
After experiencing CEO change and management turmoil, Brandless did not move in a better direction, but declined all the way. The Wall Street Journal reported in December that Brandless’s sales figures this year were halving year-on-year compared to the same period last year, and its development was weak.
Wag dog service provider Wag!: Redundancy throughout the year 182 people
Burst time: April 2019
In June 2017, Wag! was valued at around $ 400 million;
Wag in January 2018! Accept Softbank’s investment of 300 million US dollars, the pre-investment valuation of 650 million US dollars, SoftBank accounted for 45% of the shares. After that, Softbank once again low-key bought a share worth 40 million US dollars.
The New Year, January 2019, Wag! 38 layoffs and closed an office; 54 layoffs in April; 90 layoffs in December.
After the layoffs in April, Wag! did not turn a profit as expected, and the CEO of Wag! officially announced his departure in November.
In December, SoftBank Vision announced that it would give up Wag! ‘S investment , and sold the stock back to the company at a discount. The specific discount range was not disclosed publicly. According to the data we got, Wag! Disclosed earlier this year that the company had about $ 100 million in its account. Even if all the shares were used to repurchase SoftBank shares, the investment of 300 million and a return of 100 million would be disappointing.
Uber: Stock price drops in a row
Burst time: May 2019
Uber’s long-awaited listing was finally completed in May. Before Uber’s IPO, SoftBank bet nearly $ 9 billion in two rounds of investment. It once became the largest shareholder, holding 16% of Uber’s shares. Shares.
However, the rumored 120 billion US dollars from the beginning of the year, By the time of the estimated 80 billion U.S. dollars in pricing, the 75 billion U.S. dollars at the time of final listing, and the current 59.43 billion U.S. dollars, Softbank ’s heavy storage project can be said to have failed.
Shared space WeWork: Evaluation cuts strong>
Burst time: August 2019
WeWork ’s listing storm can be found in the article before Silicon Rabbit ( Investors drive out the founder, WeWork really does not work anymore? ) All in all, the softbank company, whose valuation was once heavy, dropped from the $ 47 billion in the last round toThe US $ 20 billion at the time of the IPO was raised until the final valuation of 8 billion when SoftBank bought the company.
Investing 15 billion USD before and after The company with an estimated value of 8 billion U.S. dollars also allows the founders to cash out 1.7 billion U.S. dollars. Many people, including Xiao Bian, are expected to see this in a wave.
Compass for real estate transaction / leasing intermediary: Executive executives leave collectively
Burst time: September 2019
The Wall Street Journal broke in September, and over the past 18 months, the Compass C-level management team has gone more than half.
CFO (Chief Financial Officer), CMO (Chief Marketing Officer), CTO (Chief Technology Officer), CPO (Chief Human Resources Officer), COO (Chief Operating Officer) left immediately.
Image source: CRETECH
The reason is that a dispute has arisen within the company regarding the development strategy. One party believes that the technology content of the product should be added, and the other party believes that the traditional real estate agency role should be done.
From December 2017 to June 2019, SoftBank led three consecutive rounds of investment. Compass valuation also rose from $ 1.8 billion to $ 6.4 billion.
As a new type of Internet real estate brokerage company, Compass serves buyers, sellers, and real estate agents. Buyers look for listings through the Compass platform. Sellers use the platform to publish information about the houses they sell, and help buyers and sellers connect with Compass professional real estate agents. In the process of buying and selling, the team uses technologies such as big data to achieve the goals of optimal listing locking, house pricing, and real estate transactions.
If compared horizontally, Compass’s current valuation is 9 times that of listed company Realogy, which has two real estateCompany.
Fair car rental platform Fair: Reduce 40%
Burst time: October 2019
To reduce losses in October, Fair announced the layoff of CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Tyler Painter, co-founder Scott Painter, and 40% of the company’s employees.
Fair has innovated the long-term car rental model, providing consumers with a lower price and simpler rental option. With just a driver’s license and credit card information, consumers can get different rental plans.
From December 2018, Fair has successively obtained US $ 400 million equity financing and US $ 650 million directed debt investment led by SoftBank Vision Fund, and its valuation has also increased to US $ 1.2 billion.
Before the layoffs, Fair had 45,000 monthly paying users, and the total app downloads reached 3.2 million. The CEO stated in an interview that the layoffs are for better profitability, which is a difficult decision that has to be made.
Modular house builder Katerra: Redundancy + Close the plant
Burst time: December 2019
Katerra has laid off employees several times in 2019, most recently in December. It laid off 200 employees at one time and even shut down a factory in Phoenix.
In 2017, Katerra’s C round of financing was valued at US $ 1 billion. In 2018, SoftBank led a round of USD 865 million in D round, and its post-investment valuation reached US $ 3 billion.
Katerra divides a house into different parts, designs and produces modular house components in the factory, and directly transports it to the construction site to assemble it.
Burst time: April 2019
In June 2017, Wag! was valued at around $ 400 million;
Wag in January 2018! Accept Softbank’s investment of 300 million US dollars, the pre-investment valuation of 650 million US dollars, SoftBank accounted for 45% of the shares. After that, Softbank once again low-key bought a share worth 40 million US dollars.
The New Year, January 2019, Wag! 38 layoffs and closed an office; 54 layoffs in April; 90 layoffs in December.
After the layoffs in April, Wag! did not turn a profit as expected, and the CEO of Wag! officially announced his departure in November.
In December, SoftBank Vision announced that it would give up Wag! ‘S investment , and sold the stock back to the company at a discount. The specific discount range was not disclosed publicly. According to the data we got, Wag! Disclosed earlier this year that the company had about $ 100 million in its account. Even if all the shares were used to repurchase SoftBank shares, the investment of 300 million and a return of 100 million would be disappointing.
Uber: Stock price drops in a row
Burst time: May 2019
Uber’s long-awaited listing was finally completed in May. Before Uber’s IPO, SoftBank bet nearly $ 9 billion in two rounds of investment. It once became the largest shareholder, holding 16% of Uber’s shares. Shares.
However, the rumored 120 billion US dollars from the beginning of the year, By the time of the estimated 80 billion U.S. dollars in pricing, the 75 billion U.S. dollars at the time of final listing, and the current 59.43 billion U.S. dollars, Softbank ’s heavy storage project can be said to have failed.
Shared space WeWork: Evaluation cuts strong>
Burst time: August 2019
WeWork ’s listing storm can be found in the article before Silicon Rabbit ( Investors drive out the founder, WeWork really does not work anymore? ) All in all, the softbank company, whose valuation was once heavy, dropped from the $ 47 billion in the last round toThe US $ 20 billion at the time of the IPO was raised until the final valuation of 8 billion when SoftBank bought the company.
Investing 15 billion USD before and after The company with an estimated value of 8 billion U.S. dollars also allows the founders to cash out 1.7 billion U.S. dollars. Many people, including Xiao Bian, are expected to see this in a wave.
Compass for real estate transaction / leasing intermediary: Executive executives leave collectively
Burst time: September 2019
The Wall Street Journal broke in September, and over the past 18 months, the Compass C-level management team has gone more than half.
CFO (Chief Financial Officer), CMO (Chief Marketing Officer), CTO (Chief Technology Officer), CPO (Chief Human Resources Officer), COO (Chief Operating Officer) left immediately.
Image source: CRETECH
The reason is that a dispute has arisen within the company regarding the development strategy. One party believes that the technology content of the product should be added, and the other party believes that the traditional real estate agency role should be done.
From December 2017 to June 2019, SoftBank led three consecutive rounds of investment. Compass valuation also rose from $ 1.8 billion to $ 6.4 billion.
As a new type of Internet real estate brokerage company, Compass serves buyers, sellers, and real estate agents. Buyers look for listings through the Compass platform. Sellers use the platform to publish information about the houses they sell, and help buyers and sellers connect with Compass professional real estate agents. In the process of buying and selling, the team uses technologies such as big data to achieve the goals of optimal listing locking, house pricing, and real estate transactions.
If compared horizontally, Compass’s current valuation is 9 times that of listed company Realogy, which has two real estateCompany.
Fair car rental platform Fair: Reduce 40%
Burst time: October 2019
To reduce losses in October, Fair announced the layoff of CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Tyler Painter, co-founder Scott Painter, and 40% of the company’s employees.
Fair has innovated the long-term car rental model, providing consumers with a lower price and simpler rental option. With just a driver’s license and credit card information, consumers can get different rental plans.
From December 2018, Fair has successively obtained US $ 400 million equity financing and US $ 650 million directed debt investment led by SoftBank Vision Fund, and its valuation has also increased to US $ 1.2 billion.
Before the layoffs, Fair had 45,000 monthly paying users, and the total app downloads reached 3.2 million. The CEO stated in an interview that the layoffs are for better profitability, which is a difficult decision that has to be made.
Modular house builder Katerra: Redundancy + Close the plant
Burst time: December 2019
Katerra has laid off employees several times in 2019, most recently in December. It laid off 200 employees at one time and even shut down a factory in Phoenix.
In 2017, Katerra’s C round of financing was valued at US $ 1 billion. In 2018, SoftBank led a round of USD 865 million in D round, and its post-investment valuation reached US $ 3 billion.
Katerra divides a house into different parts, designs and produces modular house components in the factory, and directly transports it to the construction site to assemble it.
Burst time: August 2019
WeWork ’s listing storm can be found in the article before Silicon Rabbit ( Investors drive out the founder, WeWork really does not work anymore? ) All in all, the softbank company, whose valuation was once heavy, dropped from the $ 47 billion in the last round toThe US $ 20 billion at the time of the IPO was raised until the final valuation of 8 billion when SoftBank bought the company.
Investing 15 billion USD before and after The company with an estimated value of 8 billion U.S. dollars also allows the founders to cash out 1.7 billion U.S. dollars. Many people, including Xiao Bian, are expected to see this in a wave.
Compass for real estate transaction / leasing intermediary: Executive executives leave collectively
Burst time: September 2019
The Wall Street Journal broke in September, and over the past 18 months, the Compass C-level management team has gone more than half.
CFO (Chief Financial Officer), CMO (Chief Marketing Officer), CTO (Chief Technology Officer), CPO (Chief Human Resources Officer), COO (Chief Operating Officer) left immediately.
Image source: CRETECH
The reason is that a dispute has arisen within the company regarding the development strategy. One party believes that the technology content of the product should be added, and the other party believes that the traditional real estate agency role should be done.
From December 2017 to June 2019, SoftBank led three consecutive rounds of investment. Compass valuation also rose from $ 1.8 billion to $ 6.4 billion.
As a new type of Internet real estate brokerage company, Compass serves buyers, sellers, and real estate agents. Buyers look for listings through the Compass platform. Sellers use the platform to publish information about the houses they sell, and help buyers and sellers connect with Compass professional real estate agents. In the process of buying and selling, the team uses technologies such as big data to achieve the goals of optimal listing locking, house pricing, and real estate transactions.
If compared horizontally, Compass’s current valuation is 9 times that of listed company Realogy, which has two real estateCompany.
Fair car rental platform Fair: Reduce 40%
Burst time: October 2019
To reduce losses in October, Fair announced the layoff of CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Tyler Painter, co-founder Scott Painter, and 40% of the company’s employees.
Fair has innovated the long-term car rental model, providing consumers with a lower price and simpler rental option. With just a driver’s license and credit card information, consumers can get different rental plans.
From December 2018, Fair has successively obtained US $ 400 million equity financing and US $ 650 million directed debt investment led by SoftBank Vision Fund, and its valuation has also increased to US $ 1.2 billion.
Before the layoffs, Fair had 45,000 monthly paying users, and the total app downloads reached 3.2 million. The CEO stated in an interview that the layoffs are for better profitability, which is a difficult decision that has to be made.
Modular house builder Katerra: Redundancy + Close the plant
Burst time: December 2019
Katerra has laid off employees several times in 2019, most recently in December. It laid off 200 employees at one time and even shut down a factory in Phoenix.
In 2017, Katerra’s C round of financing was valued at US $ 1 billion. In 2018, SoftBank led a round of USD 865 million in D round, and its post-investment valuation reached US $ 3 billion.
Katerra divides a house into different parts, designs and produces modular house components in the factory, and directly transports it to the construction site to assemble it.
Burst time: October 2019
To reduce losses in October, Fair announced the layoff of CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Tyler Painter, co-founder Scott Painter, and 40% of the company’s employees.
Fair has innovated the long-term car rental model, providing consumers with a lower price and simpler rental option. With just a driver’s license and credit card information, consumers can get different rental plans.
From December 2018, Fair has successively obtained US $ 400 million equity financing and US $ 650 million directed debt investment led by SoftBank Vision Fund, and its valuation has also increased to US $ 1.2 billion.
Before the layoffs, Fair had 45,000 monthly paying users, and the total app downloads reached 3.2 million. The CEO stated in an interview that the layoffs are for better profitability, which is a difficult decision that has to be made.