The Khashoggi murder isn’t stopping SoftBank’s Vision Fund
Money talks in the startup community, especially when SoftBank comes knocking with the megabucks of its Vision Fund. Despite the public outcry around the firm?s dependence on money from Saudi Arabia in the wake of that country?s assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, deal flow for Softbank?s Vision Fund appears to be back to [?];
- Despite the public outcry around the firm’s dependence on money from Saudi Arabia in the wake of that country’s assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, deal flow for Softbank’s Vision Fund appears to be back to normal.
- Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is the fund’s anchor investor and it is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been strongly linked with the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of the regime.
- For startups, the money flow means that a major source of capital for growth or subsidies for customers comes from the Saudi royal family’s pockets — a regime that would reportedly not hesitate to murder a critical voice.
- While offering words in support of the ongoing murder investigation, they manage to say little about the ethics of taking money from the Saudi regime.
- — told TechCrunch in November that the allegations around the murder “don’t represent us and don’t represent [Vision Fund] companies.