Nikesh Arora was recently named president of Japanese tech giant SoftBank, but he continues to wear his earlier hat as head of the Japanese tech giant’s investment business. And what he wants to do is make larger deals, according to comments he made today at Coins2Day Brainstorm Tech in Aspen, Colorado.
Arora says that while SoftBank has traditionally backed startups with investments in the $10 million to $50 million range, he wants to be writing more nine-figure checks. Or even larger, based on a new $1 billion investment in South Korean mobile commerce company Coupang.
SoftBank also has been playing heavily in the hide-hailing space, backing such companies as Didi Kuaidi (China) and GrabTaxi (Southeast Asia). When interviewer Adam Lashinsky noted that Uber also wants to win the Asian market, Arora responded: “I want a lot of things in life, too.”