SoftBank-Saudi tech fund becomes world's biggest with $93bn of capital

The world's largest private equity fund, backed by Japan's SoftBank Group and Saudi Arabia's main sovereign wealth fund, said on Saturday it had raised over $93bn to invest in technology sectors such as artificial intelligence and robotics. "The next stage of the Information Revolution is under way, and building the businesses that will make this possible will require unprecedented large-scale, long-term investment," the SoftBank Vision Fund said in a statement. Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, chairman of SoftBank, a telecommunications and tech investment group, revealed plans for the fund last October and since then it has obtained commitments from some of the world's most deep-pocketed investors. The new fund made its announcement during the visit of President Donald Trump to Riyadh and the signing of tens of billions of dollars worth of business deals between US and Saudi companies. Son was also in Riyadh on Saturday.