A 2017 fund's first close is not its final size or return

The record

On 20 May 2017, SoftBank Group announced what it called the SoftBank Vision Fund's first major close, with 'over U.S. $93 billion of committed capital,' targeting 'a total of U.S. $100 billion of committed capital, with a final close within six months.' The announcement named the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and SoftBank Group itself as anchor investors alongside the United Arab Emirates' Mubadala Investment Company, Apple, Foxconn, Qualcomm and Sharp. It also disclosed that SoftBank's own $28 billion commitment would be 'partially satisfied through the in-kind contribution of approximately 24.99% of the shares in ARM Holdings plc, at a value of approximately U.S. $8.2 billion,' meaning part of the fund's capital was a share transfer, not new cash.

What the sources establish

The 2017 announcement fixes a starting point: a target size, a first-close amount, and a named investor list, all stated by SoftBank itself rather than estimated by a third party. SoftBank's own 2026 Annual Report supplies the fund's current state: total committed capital of $98.6 billion for what the report calls SVF1, a cumulative investment gain of $24.2 billion on $87.2 billion of invested cost across 94 investments, and 62 portfolio companies taken public since the fund's 2017 start, all measured 'as of March 31, 2026.' The two documents describe the same fund nine years apart, and both are SoftBank's own disclosures rather than an outside estimate of the fund's performance.

Scope and revision

A fund's committed capital, its invested cost, and its cumulative gain are three different numbers measured on three different bases, and none is fixed for the fund's life. The $93 billion figure from 2017 was a committed-capital total at first close, not capital already invested; the 2026 report's $87.2 billion is cumulative invested cost across the fund's full nine-year history; its $24.2 billion cumulative gain is a snapshot as of a single balance-sheet date that the report itself notes can move every quarter with fair-value changes. None of these figures should be extended backward to describe the fund's performance in years the 2026 report does not itself cover.

The decision in front of you

This is an editorial framing, not investment guidance. Anyone comparing SoftBank's Vision Fund to another vehicle should first establish which of the three figures, commitment, cost, or cumulative gain, is being compared, and as of which date, before treating any single number as the fund's 'size' or 'return.'

• Is the cited figure a committed-capital target, drawn capital, or a cumulative gain or loss?
• As of what balance-sheet date does the source state the figure?
• Does the comparison period match on both sides, given that fair-value gains and losses in this fund have moved substantially across its life?

SoftBank's own record of its Vision Fund, read across nine years of its own disclosures, is a case study in why a single reported number for a still-operating fund is a photograph, not a final account. The $93 billion of 2017 and the $24.2 billion cumulative gain of 2026 measure different things at different moments in the same fund's life.