The Japanese investment powerhouse SoftBank, which used to dominate the Indian startup ecosystem with its high-frequency, large late-stage investments, is in the process of undergoing a major strategy recalibration. Quite to the contrary, the current dynamics of the firm demonstrate more of an advanced reset with the tactical exits and a shift towards the innovative technologies. As the investor keeps monetizing some of its old bets by partially and fully exiting them, it is also preparing another stream of investments. The emphasis on artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise technology is a growing trend in this new phase of SoftBank in India, a part of a global trend of more disciplined and specialized investments in capital.

Strategic exits and core theme

SoftBank has been keeping its Indian investments active in 2025. The company has managed to divest, or sell off, several high-profile companies in several ways, including founder-led buybacks, selling on secondary markets, and investing in initial public offerings (IPOs). The most prominent examples are the sale of its stakes in Lenskart and Ola Electric, and a partial exit of InMobi with the help of a founder-led buyback.

The company has previously sold off posts in Delhivery and FirstCry as well. These exits have been much cash cows; reports show that SoftBank has recorded in excess of $7.2 billion in India exits, such as in public market sell downs in the key Yupana e-commerce players: Paytm, Policybazaar, and Zomato.

Even though such a number of transactions may exist, the management at SoftBank India has been vocal in resisting the claim that the company is withdrawing from the nation. Sumer Juneja, the India head of SoftBank, claims these exits are an indication of a growing ecosystem in which the company has to spend the capital in competition with IPOs.

Juneja has insisted that the company is not in exit mode but rather reacting to the positive market trends. The prolific number of monetizations is aimed at consolidating the balance sheet of SoftBank, which offers the required liquidity to invest in the next generation of startups in India.

The most significant part of the new strategy of SoftBank is a radical turn to the field of artificial intelligence. In 2023 and 2024, having been relatively idle and not having made any additional investments since 2025 beyond a follow-on round in Juspay, SoftBank is now considering a range of India-based AI platforms.

This emphasis on AI is not accidental but a fundamental subject of future bets. The company is also negotiating to join a $60 million round of financing of Emergent, an AI platform, and is considering investing in Neysa, an Indian AI cloud infrastructure company, with Blackstone. Such prospective deals are indicators of the definite inclination towards the use of platforms addressing the needs of enterprises, which are globally scalable, and whose model of revenue proves to be predictable.

This shift toward AI-driven opportunities is consistent with the overall global shift of SoftBank toward capital discipline and technological focus. The ability of the firm to get back to profitability in the 2025 fiscal year, with a profit of $7.4 billion, was a result of increased restrictions and new bets on AI and semiconductor-related industries.

This comes as a break to the times of 2021, when the “unicorn manufacturer” SoftBank financed 14 startups in a year. When dealing with smaller, more flexible cheques, the new approach is more selective, as there is a readiness to experiment with smaller cheques, especially at the early stages of deep-tech and AI companies. This elasticity is a strategic development of its earlier policy of only writing cheques of millions of dollars to late-stage ventures.

Broader ecosystem

Although SoftBank has taken a careful approach in recent usage, its past investment in India has been enormous, with over $10.6 billion invested in approximately 20 companies, among them being giants like Flipkart, Oyo, and Swiggy. It has a strong residual value in India, and several of its portfolio companies are likely to go through IPOs in 2026, including Flipkart and OYO.

This robust future listing pipeline implies that the period of high earnings of this company is not exhausted. Things are different; currently, SoftBank has to compete with larger Indian conglomerates diversifying into green energy, healthcare, and data centers.

The wider ecosystem is already changing to accommodate the deep-tech and AI-oriented business that SoftBank is currently seeking. Advanced technologies are finding a fertile ground due to the emerging new deep-tech funds and government-led policy measures.

Though SoftBank has been silent over the recent past, there is a history of the company to engage in aggressive investing once it finds companies that can scale up to massive levels. With Indian entrepreneurs continually seeking additional ways to bring value with the help of AI, SoftBank is putting itself in a position where the capital will be available when the time is appropriate, which could be later in 2026 or 2027.

Conclusion

The present position of SoftBank in India is one of disciplined transition as opposed to retreat. The firm is planning a future sustainability and tech-oriented future by aggressively monetizing established investments and concentrating on the rapidly growing AI and enterprise technology markets. The success of its previous strategy of the big bet can be seen by its ability to get exit proceeds of up to $7.2 billion, and its present focus on startups such as Emergent and Neysa offers a more focused future-oriented investment lens. With the Indian startup ecosystem coming of age and shifting to deep-tech and AI, the revised strategy of SoftBank means that it will remain a key, though more risk-averse, outlier of the technological growth in India.