SoftBank Capital Raises $51 Million for Early-Stage Investments in Technology Startups Located in New York State

New York, NY –  SoftBank Capital, a venture group affiliated with Japan’s SoftBank Corp., today announced that it raised an additional $51.02 million to invest in early-stage New York State technology startups. The additional capital extends SoftBank Capital’s position as a complete early-to-late stage investment partner with an ongoing commitment to New York’s emerging technology scene.
 
SoftBank Capital NY Partner Jordan Levy will oversee investments, with others including Ron Fisher (Managing Partner), Joe Medved (Partner), Ron Schreiber (NY Partner) and special partners, Eric Hippeau (Lerer Ventures) and Mike Perlis (President and CEO of Forbes Media), also helping to manage the fund. The major investments will focus on the high-growth sectors of social, ecommerce and software.
 
This team has previously led a series of investments in New York-based startups for SoftBank Capital. These included some of the most successful venture capital investments of the past 10 years, including investments in companies such as Buddy Media, acquired by Salesforce.com, Huffington Post, acquired by AOL, OMGPOP, acquired by Zynga, and Hyperpublic, acquired by Groupon.
 
“We were very pleased by some of the big successes with previous New York investments and feel our latest drop-down fund will be equally beneficial in helping to fuel the next generation of promising New York State startups,” Levy said.
 
SoftBank Capital has already made its first investment, leading a $10 million investment round into Work Market with other leading firms Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital, which follows along SoftBank’s strategy of investing with the best firms on the eastern seaboard. Work Market provides a marketplace to revolutionize the way businesses work with freelancers, contractors and consultants. The company has also announced that Levy has joined Work Market’s board of directors.
 
“We view SoftBank Capital as perfect partner for us in being able to successfully grow our business and reach a key audience of entrepreneurs and businesses, which will create a real advantage for us going forward,” Work Market CEO and co-founder Jeff Leventhal said.
 
The New York State investments are a key component of SoftBank Capital’s diverse array of investment activities. Already in 2013, the firm has announced $250 million in funding targeted toward growth-stage, sector-leading technology companies intending to expand their Asian presence and a $20 million investment from Yahoo! Japan intended for early-stage investments for U.S. startups looking to break into the Japanese market.
 
About SoftBank Capital
SoftBank Capital makes early and growth stage investments in companies that connect people, devices and the world. SoftBank Capital invests in category leaders in consumer and enterprise mobile, online advertising, ecommerce, social media and cloud computing.  We have been making investments since 1995, with recent exits including Bluefin Labs, Buddy Media, Hyperpublic, Huffington Post, OMGPOP, Pivot and ZipList. Our investors include SoftBank Corp., which introduced the iPhone to the Japanese market and recently announced the strategic acquisition of Sprint; and Yahoo! JAPAN, the largest search engine and content portal in Japan and Alibaba Group, the largest online B2B company in China. To learn more, visit www.softbank.com.

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