NEW YORK – SoftBank Group Corp.'s Vision Fund 2 is investing $100 million in compliance and employee-monitoring software company Behavox, according to people familiar with the matter. The investment, which is in the form of preferred shares, values Behavox at about $500 million, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The investment group will also be represented on the company's board, the people added. The deal is among the first for the second incarnation of SoftBank's $100 billion Vision Fund. It comes at a time when the Japanese company faces growing scrutiny from investors including activist Elliott Management Corp. amid high-profile setbacks such as WeWork and Uber Technologies Inc. Behavox uses machine learning and advanced analytics software to help alert companies to potential wrongdoing among employees.

LOS ANGELES - A Silicon Valley startup working on self-driving delivery vehicles on Monday announced nearly a billion dollars in fresh funding from the SoftBank Vision Fund. The $940 million in financing from SoftBank brought the total amount of funding raised by Nuro to more than $1 billion, with investors including Greylock Partners and Gaorong Capital, according to the company. The move comes amid surging interest in robotic delivery from a range of companies from small startups to retail giant Amazon. "We've spent the last two and a half years building an amazing team, launching our first unmanned service, working with incredible partners and creating technology to fundamentally improve our daily lives," Nuro co-founder Dave Ferguson said in a release. "This partnership gives us the opportunity to take the next step in realizing our vision for local commerce and the broad application of our technology."

The Vision Fund's investment values the business at $11.5 billion. GM shares surged 11% to $42.07 in morning trading. The Vision Fund's investment will come in two tranches: an initial $900 million payment, and another of $1.35 billion once Cruise's autonomous vehicles are ready for commercial deployment, GM said. The deal will "afford GM increased flexibility with respect to capital allocation" as it plows more money into developing a network of autonomous ride-share vehicles, targeted for sometime next year, the company said. For years, GM's shares have languished as valuations for upstarts like electric-car maker Tesla Inc. and ride-share firm Uber Technologies Inc. soared on expectations of heady growth.