# SoftBank finds fewer tech bets for venture capital in Latin America > Source: > Published: 2026-06-17 01:39:00+00:00 SoftBank Group is struggling to find startups in Latin America ready for major investments, underscoring how sharply the technology boom there has cooled since attracting record levels of venture capital only a few years ago. As one of Japan’s largest companies, SoftBank had helped channel billions of dollars to startups through dedicated Latin American funds. Now, it says there are fewer companies that meet the requirements for its preferred investments of $50 million or more. It is evaluating a handful of potential targets and has no limitations on deploying capital, but as venture investors increasingly focus on artificial intelligence the pool of opportunities has narrowed, according to Alex Szapiro, managing partner and head of Brazil. The company has completed only two new deals over the past two years. “It’s harder to find companies as strong as the ones we see in Europe, U.S. and Asia,” he said in an interview. “It’s hard to see an Anthropic or OpenAI-type company coming out of LatAm.” “A good chunk” of SoftBank’s existing roster of 80 or so companies in the region will be ready to go public once a window opens, Szapiro said, but a lack of hardware capacity and infrastructure, a smaller talent pool and the scale of capital available elsewhere have contributed to the slowdown. “We have four or five companies we are currently evaluating,” Szapiro said. “The question is how to find a company that is truly spot-on.” The firm is targeting consumer-oriented AI companies with strong proprietary data, growing operations and technology teams capable of competing globally. Any new deals will be financed through the Vision Fund, a global investment vehicle. In the past two years, SoftBank has also completed 12 transactions across follow-on investments, secondary deals and M&A activity, Szapiro said. The firm has fully deployed the $8 billion in its dedicated Latin American funds. The situation stands in contrast to the flood of venture funding that poured in during the pandemic-era technology boom. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son in 2019 said Latin America was on the “cusp of becoming one of the most important economic regions in the world.” The firm shook up the market that year with a $5 billion investment vehicle focused on the region and overseen by Bolivian tech entrepreneur Marcelo Claure. It added another $3 billion two years later and took major stakes in companies including delivery service Rappi and online auto dealer Kavak. As the investment pipeline slowed, though, Claure decamped over a pay dispute in 2022, marking a turning point. The SoftBank venture was “an opportunistic effort to tap Marcelo Claure’s regional knowledge,” said Kirk Boodry, a Bloomberg Intelligence senior industry analyst. “So when he left SoftBank, it did...