<article>As 2017 proved to be a milestone year for Indian startups, it was Japanese investment giant <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/softbank" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SoftBank</a> that proved to be the kingmaker by pouring in a massive $5 billion during the year.</article>

As 2017 proved to be a milestone year for Indian startups, it was Japanese investment giant <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/softbank" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SoftBank</a> that proved to be the kingmaker by pouring in a massive $5 billion during the year.
According to data provided by startup tracker <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/tracxn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tracxn</a>, Indian tech startups received $10.2 billion in funding across 898 funding rounds in 2017, making it a record year for funding. However, take out SoftBank&#8217;s $5 billion and the figure would have been lower than the previous peak of around $8 billion in 2015. The year, however, would still top 2016&#8217;s total funding of over $4 billion.
INDIA TECH STARTUPS: TOP 10 DEALS in 2017
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-89404" src="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2017/12/top-deals-1.png?resize=617,457" alt="" srcset="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2017/12/top-deals-1.png?w=617 617w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2017/12/top-deals-1.png?resize=300,222 300w" sizes="(max-width: 617px) 100vw, 617px" data-recalc-dims="1" />
Over a third of the $5 billion committed by SoftBank this year was invested in Bengaluru-based e-commerce major <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/flipkart" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Flipkart</a> as the Japanese major agreed to <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/india-softbank-vision-fund-backs-flipkart-79992/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pick up a 20 per cent stake in the Indian company</a> for an estimated $2.6 billion. Of this, Flipkart was to receive around $1.4 billion, with the remaining to be used by SoftBank to buy stakes from Flipkart&#8217;s existing sellers, including New York-based <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/tiger-global" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tiger Global Management LLC</a> and venture capital firm <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/accel-partners" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Accel Partners</a>.
Prior to the Flipkart deal in August, SoftBank had also bought a 20 per cent stake in New Delhi-based <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/one97" target="_blank" rel="noopener">One97 Communications Pvt. Ltd</a>, the parent company of leading digital payments platform<a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/paytm" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Paytm</a>, for $1.4 billion. The deal also provided an exit to early investor <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/saif" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SAIF Partners</a> for a hefty $400-million payout.
In its most recent investments in India, SoftBank co-led a $1.1-billion round raised by ride-hailing major Ola in October, along with Chinese internet giant <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/tencent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tencent</a>. There were also media reports that SoftBank was eyeing a majority stake in Uber&#8217;s Indian rival.
Apart from the billion-dollar deals, SoftBank also cut some smaller cheques including a <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/india-oyo-raises-250m-81913/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joint $250-million investment</a> with Sunil Munjal’s Hero Enterprises in Gurugram-based budget hotel aggregator <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/oyo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OYO (Oravel Stays Pvt. Ltd)</a>, an existing portfolio firm.
The company’s other existing investors, venture capital firms Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Greenoaks Capital Partners LLC, also participated in the round.
During the year, it also made some follow-on investments in its existing portfolio companies. It <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/rea-group-acquires-strategic-stake-in-indias-proptiger-62492/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invested in PropTiger</a> during the latter&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/india-proptiger-buys-softbank-backed-housing-in-all-stock-deal-worth-70-75m-62376/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">takeover of Housing.com</a> and <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/true-balance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">True Balance</a> when the company <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/65408-65408/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised a $15-million</a> Series B round early in the year.
Japanese investment giant&#8217;s aggressive approach is also backed by the launch of its global technology investment vehicle, the $100-billion <a href="http://dealstreetasia.com/tag/vision-fund" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vision Fund</a>, which includes global investors such as Apple Inc., the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Foxconn Technology Group, Qualcomm Inc. and Sharp Corp. SoftBank’s own commitment to the fund is reportedly around $28 billion. The fund intends to write out cheques worth $100 million at the minimum for stakes in public and private companies across technology verticals such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, mobile applications, telecoms, cloud technologies and software, consumer Internet and financial technology.
SoftBank has been trying to strengthen its Indian portfolio with investments in market leaders after some of its expensive initial bets in India including Snapdeal, Housing.com and Grofers failed to yield desired results. Until 2016, the Japanese firm had invested around $2 billion in various Indian tech startups. It had, however, struggled to recover at least a part of its investments from these loss-making bets.
Most of its 2014 investments in India were led by Nikesh Arora, a former Google executive who joined SoftBank in 2014 as the chief operating officer and left the company in June last year. There were accusations against Arora and Alok Sama, SoftBank president and CFO of its international arm, for receiving kickbacks for some of the Indian investments. These <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/73010-73010/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charges. however, were denied</a> by SoftBank.
When not signing billion-dollar cheques, SoftBank made news for being involved in a long-drawn series of negotiations to sell its cash-strapped e-commerce bet Snapdeal to market leader Flipkart. SoftBank pushed hard for the merger, which would have been the biggest signal of consolidation in the Indian startup space. However, amid boardroom battles and resistance from minority shareholders, the deal finally fell through after the Snapdeal promoters decided not to sell the company and try to rebuild the company.
This was not the first time that SoftBank was involved in differences with promoters of a portfolio company. In 2015, SoftBank witnessed a very public spat and the infamous ouster of Housing.com&#8217;s CEO Rahul Yadav and the subsequent sale of the loss-making company to News Corp-owned PropTiger, in which SoftBank is also an investor.
Armed with the backing of its massive Vision Fund, SoftBank is showing no signs of slowing down its investments in India anytime soon. As an indication of things to come late last year, Son reiterated SoftBank’s bullish stance towards India and said the Japanese firm would surpass its initial $10-billion pledge towards India. And with the robust year that went by for SoftBank, it looks like it could fulfil Son&#8217;s prophecy in 2018.
SoftBank&#8217;s top investments in India 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-89405" src="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2017/12/softbank-deals.png?resize=640,408" alt="" srcset="https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2017/12/softbank-deals.png?w=804 804w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2017/12/softbank-deals.png?resize=300,191 300w, https://media.dealstreetasia.com/uploads/2017/12/softbank-deals.png?resize=768,489 768w" sizes="(max-width: 804px) 100vw, 804px" data-recalc-dims="1" />
Also Read:
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/sun-inside-softbanks-india-investment-strategy-82814/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Unravelling SoftBank’s investment strategy as Masayoshi Son puts over $4B into India in last 9 months</a>
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/softbank-changes-track-in-india-as-initial-bets-go-sour-71285/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SoftBank changes tack in India as bets on Snapdeal, Grofers, Housing go sour</a>
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/sunsoftbank-reverse-fortunes-india-74184/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SoftBank looks to reverse fortunes in India</a>
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/softbanks-masayoshi-son-says-will-surpass-10b-india-investment-pledge-59786/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SoftBank’s Son commits to surpass $10b India investment target</a>

While the total amount of funding raised in 2017 reached record highs, the backbone was SoftBank that pumped in over $5b in the country during the year.

SoftBank - the Japanese backbone to India's record funding year

Bring stories like this into your inbox every day.

Sign up for our newsletter - The Daily Brief

SoftBank - the Japanese backbone to India's record funding year

Start your deal-making journey now!

Bring stories like this into your inbox every day.

Sign up for our newsletter - The Daily Brief