SoftBank Group provides venture funding and strategic support to exceptional entrepreneurs building disruptive enduring businesses. They are a small team of experienced entrepreneurs and investors who take an ''active'' approach to helping their companies reach their full potential. They manage $600 million across three funds and invest across a company’s lifecycle, from early to growth stages.   Through their close ties to a number of Asia’s leading mobile, internet and technology companies – including strategic partners SoftBank Corp, Yahoo! Japan and Alibaba Group – SoftBank Capital offers unique expertise to businesses seeking to address the Asian market.  Since 1995, SoftBank Capital has partnered with internet pioneers such as Criteo, Gilt Groupe, OMGPOP (Zynga), betaworks, BuzzFeed, Buddy Media (Salesforce.com), Huffington Post (AOL), Associated Content (Yahoo!), Danger (Microsoft), Geocities (Yahoo!), E*Trade and Yahoo!.

SoftBank Capital

Joho Capital, LLC is a privately owned hedge fund sponsor. The firm also manages other funds for its clients. It typically invests in the public equity markets across the globe. The firm primarily focuses its investments in Japan and other Asian markets. It employs a fundamental analysis for stock picking. The firm typically employs a long/short equity strategy for its portfolio investments. Joho Capital was founded in 1996 and is based in the New York, New York.

Joho Capital

Moatable

Digitizing the commercial real estate value chain

Commercial PropTech

Fundrise is a real estate investment platform that allows individuals to invest in a diversified portfolio of private real estate assets, including residential and commercial properties, with a low minimum investment. Fundrise uses technology to streamline the investment process, offering investors access to institutional-quality real estate opportunities that were previously only available to wealthy individuals and institutions.
The company was founded in 2012 with the mission of democratizing real estate investing. Fundrise offers a variety of investment plans tailored to different investment goals, such as supplemental income, long-term growth, or a balanced approach. The platform leverages advanced data analytics and proprietary algorithms to identify and acquire properties with strong potential for appreciation and rental income growth, with a focus on the Sunbelt region of the US.
Fundrise's primary product offerings are its private real estate investment trusts (eREITs), which invest in a diversified portfolio of properties across different markets and property types. As of 2024, Fundrise manages over USD 3.3 billion in assets under management and has over 500,000 active investors on its platform.

PLUM offers co-ownership solutions that enable individuals and families to affordably purchase and enjoy vacation homes together. Through its technology platform, PLUM facilitates the formation of co-ownership groups, handles legal agreements, budgeting, maintenance scheduling, and vacation day allocation. Once a property is acquired, PLUM provides ongoing management services, including concierge services, vacation scheduling, financial streamlining, and dispute resolution. Unlike timeshares, co-owners through PLUM have an equity stake in the property proportional to their ownership share. PLUM differentiates itself from competitors like Pacaso by catering to a broader mass affluent customer base and offering properties across various vacation destinations rather than a limited portfolio.
PLUM also operates a commercial real estate lending business, providing debt financing solutions to property owners nationwide. As of November 2020, PLUM Lending employed data science and artificial intelligence to gain insights into underserved local markets, enabling it to offer customized lending products and industry-leading services. The company's leadership team comprises seasoned professionals with extensive experience in real estate, finance, and technology sectors.

Artificial intelligence is identifying and testing new therapies faster than ever.

AI Drug Discovery

<div>
 
 XtalPi is an American-Chinese company operating the Inclusive Digital Drug Discovery and Development (ID4) platform that uses AI, quantum physics, and high-performance cloud computing algorithms to enhance the pharmaceutical research and development process. It provides predictions on physiochemical and pharmaceutical properties of small-molecule candidates for drug design, solid-form selection, and other aspects of drug development. As of March 2024, the company developed over 200 proprietary AI models that assess crucial drug-like properties.&nbsp;
 
 
 The ID4 platform provides solutions for the entire drug discovery and development pipeline, with key components that tnclude, 1) XtalCryo for target confirmation, 2) XcelaHit, which assists in compound design, 3)XceptionOp, which evaluates druggability, and 4) XcelDev, which optimizes development processes.
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s head office is based in Boston, while its R&amp;D center, AI research center, and an experimental center are in China. Its high-performance computing (HPC) cloud can deploy up to one million cores across Amazon Web Services (AWS), Tencent Cloud, Google Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s customers include notable pharmaceutical companies, including 
 <a href="https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/xtalpi-pfizer-develop-ai-software-identify-new-drugs/">
 Pfizer
 </a>
 (May 2018), 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6267">
 Signet Therapeutics
 </a>
 (October 2021), 
 <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xtalpi-announces-strategic-collaboration-with-porton-to-offer-prediction-guided-crystallization-and-drug-solid-state-research-services-301021700.html">
 Porton Pharma Solutions
 </a>
 (March 2020), 
 <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xtalpi-and-ck-life-sciences-to-collaborate-in-ai-empowered-tumour-vaccine-research-and-development-opening-a-new-paradigm-for-scientific-innovation-301686858.html">
 CK Life Sciences
 </a>
 (November 2022), 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19101">
 Eli Lilly
 </a>
 (May 2023), 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21353">
 Edelweiss Connect
 </a>
 (August 2023), 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21556">
 Parthenon Therapeutics
 </a>
 (September 2023), Singapore&rsquo;s Experimental Drug Development Centre (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24251">
 EDDC
 </a>
 ) (November 2023), 
 <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/xtalpi-and-hkus-advanced-biomedical-instrumentation-centre-sign-mou-to-accelerate-deep-tech-commercialization-301997939.html">
 Advanced Biomedical Instrumentation Centre at HKU 
 </a>
 (November 2023), and 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24984">
 JW C&amp;C Research Laboratories
 </a>
 (December 2023).
 
 
 The company also partnered with 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25072">
 ABB
 </a>
 (December 2023) to create automated laboratory workstations in China using ABB&rsquo;s GoFa cobots.&nbsp;
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In August 2021, the company raised USD 400 million in a 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4903">
 Series D
 </a>
 funding round, reportedly ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO). The proceeds were earmarked for corporate expansion plans. The company has also attracted investments from Google, Tencent, and Sequoia China. 
 
</div>

Property owners and real estate companies are able to handle larger portfolios while offering faster and cheaper services.

Residential PropTech

Poplar Homes provides virtual tours to allow prospective clients to complete the leasing process remotely and also offers tenants the option to move out of the home within 90 days after move-in should they be unsatisfied with the condition of the home. For owners, the company also provides a rent guarantee and eviction cover.&nbsp;The company charges a management fee between 8% and 11% of the monthly rent, or a minimum in the range USD 150 and USD 235 per month, depending on the extent of the services. As of June 2023, Poplar Homes managed properties via its platform for over 15,000 property owners in 25 markets across 17 states.<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21787">In September 2023</a>, Poplar Homes acquired&nbsp; BBW Homes LLC, a property management company, and Best Management Team LLC, real estate brokerage and property management company, for an undisclosed amount. Through these acquisitions, Poplar Homes added&nbsp; 735 homes in St. Louis (from BBW Homes’ portfolio) and 175 homes in Las Vegas (from Best Management’s portfolio) to its platform’s properties under management across these two markets. In June 2023, Poplar Homes <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19169">acquired Venture REI's single-family rental management business</a> to enter into the Arizona rental property management market and add 152 homes across Scottsdale into its property management portfolio. The prior year in September, Poplar Homes announced the <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13097">acquisition</a> of the property management, maintenance, and leasing divisions of 33 Realty Management. Through this acquisition, Poplar Homes intended to support its geographic expansion plan into Midwest markets such as Chicago.

Making banking work, without the paperwork

Neobanks

Aspiration offers banking services via a web portal and mobile app. The company offers checking accounts free of charge, and also offers a premium package dubbed as ‘Aspiration Plus’, priced at USD 7.99 per month. Under its basic package, the company provides a checking account and debit card. The company mainly follows and promotes environmentally friendly principles and claims that its deposits won’t fund fossil fuel exploration or production. The company also offers 3-5% cashback on Conscience Coalition purchases, a personal impact score that provides insights on how a customer’s spending habits affect climate change, and options to plant a tree with every round-up of spending. Additional features offered under the premium package include higher cashback portions on Conscience Coalition purchases (10%), Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on savings of up to 1%, and a planet protection feature that collects data on carbon output of all gas purchases and automatically purchases offsets to help counter climate impact.In addition to checking facilities, the company also provides savings options in the form of investments, which includes investments in the company’s ‘Redwood Fund’ and ‘Redwood IRA’; an investment fund and retirement account which solely invests in companies that are based on sustainable and ethical principles - both requiring a minimum deposit of USD 10 each.In March 2021, the company ventured into the credit segment, by announcing the launch of ‘Aspiration Zero’; a credit card that provides cash-back rewards for users who work towards achieving carbon neutral status, claiming to be the first of its kind. Under the scheme, the company claims that it will plant a tree every time a purchase is made, and provide cash-back rewards of up to 1% on all purchases if customers attain carbon zero status.Key customers and partnershipsAs of May 2020, the company had around 1.5 million customers and the company claims that its customers had collectively planted around 5 million trees by using its services by March 2021. The company also has stated a goal of planting 100 million trees in a decade. In March 2023, the number of customers reached over 5 million.Funding and financialsIn May 2020, the company raised USD 135 million in Series C funding, led by Alpha Edison. The company intended to use the funding to further expand its product offerings. In August 2021, the company announced plans to go public via a merger with InterPrivate III Financial Partners Inc.; a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). The transaction was expected to value the company at USD 2.3 billion and generate cash proceeds of over USD 400 million. The merger was expected to be completed in Q1 2022; however, in August 2023, InterPrivate III Financial Partners terminated the merger agreement.In December 2021, Aspiration secured USD 315 million of incremental equity funding from Oaktree Capital Management and investment affiliates of Steve Ballmer (former CEO, Microsoft). The company planned to funnel the fresh capital into growth initiatives.

Embedding environmental, social, and corporate governance factors into investments

Sustainable Finance

Aspiration is a fintech company that offers a suite of green financial services products aimed at empowering individuals and businesses to combat climate change through their everyday spending and saving activities. The company provides sustainable checking and savings accounts, credit cards, and investment accounts that are fossil fuel-free and enable customers to track their personal sustainability scores.
Aspiration's key product is the Aspiration Spend & Save account, which offers a competitive 3.00% annual percentage yield (APY) on balances up to USD 10,000 as of October 2022. This cash management account comes with a debit card, mobile check deposit, bill pay, and up to USD 2 million in FDIC insurance coverage. Aspiration also has the Redwood Fund and Redwood IRA, investment products focused on sustainable companies committed to ethnic diversity, gender diversity, ethical practices, and addressing climate change.
In April 2024, Aspiration's consumer financial services brand was spun off as a separate company called Mission Financial Partners, led by CEO Tim Newell. This move allowed Aspiration to concentrate on serving businesses through its carbon credit offerings while Mission Financial Partners focused on expanding its suite of climate-friendly consumer products like banking, credit, lending, investment, and insurance solutions. A key aspect of Aspiration's approach is planting trees, with the company claiming to have supported the planting of over 100 million trees as of April 2024.

Kaixin Auto Holdings is a used car dealership company in China. The company started as a tech-enabled financing platform and turns into a nationwide dealer network that combines self-owned and affiliated dealers as well as value added and after-sale services.  Kaixin Auto Holdings was founded in 2015.

BacklotCars allows auto dealers, auto finance, and rental car companies to transact without having to go to physical auctions. It provides vehicle inspections, transportation, and inventory finance services.

Simtoo is the creator of world first follow-me and foldable dragonfly drone autopilot by smart watch. Before dragonfly, the core founders of simtoo have spent years’ efforts on developing fly control system for quadcopters.

51Autogo is a mobile app that aims to improve customer experience at gas stations. 51Autogo had developed a CRM system, and the startup aims to expand its cooperating gas stations to over 1,000 by the end of this year to reach daily transaction value of US$1.5 million.

SIRIN LABS operates on the leading edge of communication technology. Backed by significant investment from some of the most respected players in this arena, the company has been driven by a determination to deliver uncompromising solutions. After over two years of intensive research and development, SIRIN LABS is poised to present our first product, a mobile phone built without restriction or compromise.

Omni Prime provides Lending as a Service solution to retailers.

Poplar Homes is a tech-enabled property management company providing renting process for owners and renters. They help to onboard the rental portfolio and get access to an owner dashboard that provides a full view of performance stats and property records. Poplar Homes visit any vacant property and do a 3D scan to make their client's listings shine.

Da Zhangfang is a platform for an ecological ticket, financial, tax, and human resource services. Their accountant has integrated online platforms and offline outlets to provide various types of financial and taxation services throughout the entire life cycle of enterprises in various industries across the nation similar to their experience in the financial and taxation industry and their work in the Internet technology sector.

FiscalNote uses artificial intelligence and big data to deliver immediate predictive analytics of governmental action to pinpoint impact. FiscalNote's flagship platform provides real-time legislative predictive capabilities as well as enterprise collaboration and visualization tools for data on campaign finance, demographics, news, and open data to government relations professionals to help them make faster decisions.

Longma Youxi specializes in the development of web games and mobile games.

Shiftgig is a technology company that helps staffing agencies transform the way people work. Our flagship digital staffing software, Deploy, helps staffing firms empower their workforce to browse and claim work that fit their skills and schedules. We also give agencies deep insights into their clients and workers, allowing you to focus on strategic growth and coaching by eliminating repetitive tasks of running day-to-day operations. To learn more, visit shiftgig.com.

XtalPi is a pharmaceutical technology company that is reinventing the industry’s approach to drug research and development with its Intelligent Digital Drug Discovery and Development (ID4) platform. Through its tightly interwoven quantum mechanics, artificial intelligence, and high-performance cloud computing algorithms, the ID4 platform enables pharmaceutical companies to increase their efficiency, accuracy, and success rate at critical stages of drug R&D. By accelerating the pace of drug discovery and development, XtalPi aims to contribute to a healthier society worldwide. Founded in 2014 by a group of quantum physicists at MIT, XtalPi has since grown into an elite team of researchers with multi-disciplinary expertise in physics, chemistry, pharmaceutical R&D, and algorithm design. XtalPi has received much recognition for its cutting-edge technologies, its innovative solutions, and the breadth of potential applications of its offerings across the pharmaceutical value chain, which has allowed it to gain industry approval and establish strategic partnerships with several top international pharmaceutical companies.

SoFi is a financial company that provides lending and wealth management services, primarily targeting early-stage professionals. They offer a variety of products, including personal loans, MBA loans, and mortgage refinancing. Additionally, SoFi provides financial services designed to help individuals borrow, save, spend, and invest money. They also assist clients in saving for retirement and managing their student loan repayments.

Aspiration's business is providing solutions to consumers and enterprises to help them become carbon neutral.  The biggest change over the past year has been the substantial increase in demand by both consumers and enterprises to take climate action by embedding carbon reduction solutions in their everyday activities.  For Aspiration's over 6 million consumers, that happens by providing financial products, such as debit and credit cards, that embed in them carbon reduction solutions (like automatically offsetting the carbon footprint of purchases).  For Aspiration's enterprise clients, that happens with our software based carbon footprint monitoring, access to our industry leading inventory of carbon reducing assets and use of our features that make our clients own products carbon neutral.

Plum is a commercial real estate (CRE) finance company founded in 2014, to help commercial real estate owners protect and grow their wealth. We use data and technology to improve the entire lending process and experience. We either work directly with CRE owners, or partner with their wealth managers and financial advisors, to deliver a high quality and consultative service for CRE acquisitions and refinances. Plum is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and lends nationwide.

Blueboard is the experiential rewards and recognition platform for the modern workplace. Its rewards platform allows companies to reward their employees to curated experiences and activities with the click of a button – things like skydiving, wine tasting, massage, and mixology. Its clients love the fact that it has made memorable and meaningful recognition as easy as sending a gift card. It was founded in 2013 and is based in San Francisco, California.

Jinfuzi.com (金斧子) is on-line investment platform that allows users to invest in a variety of financial products (PE/VC, Trust, foreign funds etc.) via Internet. It aims to help the investor to select the investment portfolio that suits his return-risk preference. There are two main products/ mobile apps: Finance Port -金融港 and Snowball -滚雪球.

Trucker Path is a software platform for the trucking industry, providing navigational assistance and truckload sourcing. Having 35% of the U.S. Class 8 (big rigs) truckers and growing, Trucker Path is innovating the legacy 700B+ Trucking Industry, aiming to eliminate inefficiencies in the transportation industry. Trucker Path released a crowdsourcing navigational app for truckers in 2013, followed in 2016 by Truckloads, an online marketplace specializing in connecting freight companies and carriers. The main Trucker Path app (iOS & Android) provides information for truck drivers such as locations of truck stops, weigh stations, and nearby truck parking.  Trucker Path is recognized by industry leaders and the media as the company bringing the transportation industry into the 21st century.

PJ.COM is a bill P2P lending mortgage financing platform operator.

Established in 2013, GoGoX is the first app-based platform for delivering goods in Asia, which is dedicated to offering excellent delivery service through innovative technology. Since then, GoGoX has extended its service to various platforms. The company connects individuals and businesses directly to thousands of drivers for their real-time delivery needs and redefines the everyday delivery experience by providing a convenient and efficient service. Over the years, GoGoX has expanded its business from Hong Kong to Singapore, South Korea, Mainland China, Taiwan, and India and will continue to expand globally. In August 2017, GoGoX merged with 58 Suyun, the leader in Mainland China’s intra-city logistics market, and increased GOGOVAN’s presence to over 300 cities, with more than 8 million registered drivers under its network. GoGoVan has announced its rebranding as GoGoX in July 2020.

Chewen is an O2O service platform for the automotive aftermarket.

Penging.com is an online P2P financial and lending information platform for businesses.

Stocktwits is a real-time financial communications platform for the financial and investing community.  Stocktwits created the $TICKER tag to enable and organize “streams” of information around stocks and markets across the web and social media. These streams provide new forms of insight, ideas, and information that are used by investors, analysts, media, and others as they research stocks and manage their investments. The company was founded in 2008 by long-time investor Howard Lindzon.  Today, more than 300,000 investors, market professionals, and public companies share information and ideas about the market and individual stocks using Stocktwits, producing streams that are viewed by an audience of over 40 million across the financial web and social media platforms.

Kiavi is a private lender specializing in investment property loans for residential real estate investors. By leveraging data and technology, Kiavi provides a simpler, more reliable, and faster way for real estate investors to access the capital they need to grow their businesses.

Cheyipai is a private company engaged in e-commerce. It provides sells used vehicles online and online-to-offline (O2O) e-commerce model for the complete transaction process.  Wang Tiezhong and Yang Xuejian founded Cheyipai in 2009, with its headquarters in Beijing in China. It operates as a subsidiary of Souche.com as of April 3, 2018.

Sindeo changes the mortgage industry from the ground up by offering home buyers a straightforward path to homeownership and refinancing. It is a startup that’s bringing mortgages into the modern world. They’re changing the way to get a mortgage with their truly unbiased Mortgage Advisors, their high-tech, transparent process, and their low-cost structure.

Mercury Financial is a non-bank credit card and consumer lending company. Mercury Financial is an innovative and growing financial services company with locations in both Austin, Texas and Wilmington, Delaware. Mercury Financial's mission is to help those who need a second chance to build and maintain their financial future.

Motif is a digital brokerage firm. They provide provides thematic investing solutions for individuals and financial advisors. They also provide assets under management between individual accounts and institutional clients.

WiseBanyan is the world's first free financial advisor. It helps people save and invest for their goals, starting with their very first dollar --- for free. Launched in 2014, WiseBanyan provides automated goal-based investing and automated financial planning, all with no minimums. Today, there are over 25,000 people using it to save and invest over $5.5 billion in goals.

Snowball Finance is an internet financial information service provider that is focused on investment solutions.  Snowball Finance's investment and communication platform xueqiu.com provides investors with cross-market and cross-species data query, newsletter subscriptions, and interactive communication services. These services have covered the A shares, the Hong Kong stocks, and the U.S. stock market. In addition, Snowball Finance also owns iMeigu (imeigu.com), which serves American stock investors in China.

Talech is a simple yet powerful point of sale system that combines rich analytics and deep insights to help merchants run their businesses better. The product consists of an iPad based POS experience combined with a web-based dashboard. It focuses on retail and restaurant segments.

Fundrise helps locals claim ownership in the development of their city. Its first project and the first-ever crowdfunded real estate deal, was the development of acclaimed D.C. restaurant and retail store, Maketto, in 2013. It has grown since then, but its mission of providing people with a simpler, smarter, and more reliable way to invest has remained the same. Today, Fundrise continues to shape the investment industry, creating a new alternative to investing in stocks and bonds. By combining technology with new federal regulations, they have opened up the once-unattainable world of direct private investments to everyone in the US, regardless of net worth. Fundrise was launched in Washington, D.C. in 2012.

wanmen.org is an online education platform that provides multiple courses.

Moatable offers businesses with management expertise, support services, and capital to scale. It develops innovative B2B SaaS technology solutions to provide operational expertise and financial resources.

<div> Moatable offers businesses with management expertise, support services, and capital to scale. It develops innovative B2B SaaS technology solutions to provide operational expertise and financial resources. </div>

Moatable to acquire The Letting Partnership

Renren Lianhe Holdings

Using online platforms, autonomy, electric and fuel-cell tech solutions to shape the future of trucking.

Truck Industry Tech

Developers of autonomous light, medium, and heavy-duty trucks. Most companies outfit truck chassis with their technology. The majority of autonomous trucks available test at SAE Level 3 (i.e., require a driver present and ready to take control or remote assistance by an operator).

Providers of self-driving and safety-related hardware and software that provide features such as platooning, collision avoidance alerts, blind spot detection, automatic braking, automated manual transmissions, and eco-driving systems.

Developers of electric and hydrogen-powered trucks.

Apps and devices that show comprehensive routes and provide truck drivers with up-to-date gas prices, locations of nearby truck stops, bypass weigh stations, available parking, etc.

Apps that help shippers connect with carriers, optimize freight logistics, track shipment and driver hours, etc.

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 Trucker Path has launched a new service called "Trucker Path for Brokerages". The service is aimed at making the process of load dispatching, tracking, and management easier for small to medium-sized freight brokers.
 The service allows brokers to directly send load details to drivers and track the progress of loads through a dashboard. Additionally, the drivers can use the app to take pictures and upload documents for a faster documentation process.&nbsp;
 
</div>

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