last contribution made by SoftBank in a Brazilian startup it was in October 2024, when Masayoshi Son’s fund entered the R$820 million mega round of fintech from Santa Catarina Foundation. Since then, amid a global strategic repositioning to focus on AI, the manager spent 2025 without new rounds here. However, according to Alex Szapiro, head of SoftBank In Brazil, the fund remains active, but is waiting for the ideal moment to make new deals.
“I think we are experiencing an ‘off-season’ period. We talk to many companies, but we need to wait for these companies to reach a level of growth and size that justifies our investment”, explains the investor, in conversation with the Startups no South Summit.
As for opportunities, Alex admits that a new wave of good AI-driven businesses should emerge soon. “There are businesses that we watch very closely. Our role is to be close, monitor this development and try to understand before others when the company reaches this point, to eventually lead a round”, he points out.
Although the fund has not entered into new rounds, Alex states that the manager remains busy in Brazil, monitoring a portfolio of over 70 companies, most of which have been in the “waiting room” for an IPO for some time, such as MadeiraMadeira, Wellhub, Creditasamong others. However, according to Alex, the pressure for big exits is much less than it was seven or eight years ago.
“Today we do not depend on external capital”, explains Alex, mentioning the fact that currently the SoftBank It does not operate with funds dedicated to Latin America, but with money coming directly from the global operation. “This gives great flexibility to wait for the right moment and not run the risk of selling at the wrong time”, explains the executive.
To learn more about how the SoftBank has rewritten his investment thesis in Brazil and Latin America, check out the conversation Startups com Alex Sapiro.
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Startups — To begin with, what will SoftBank’s agenda be like during the South Summit? Is SoftBank looking more closely at businesses outside the Rio-São Paulo axis?
Alex Sapiro — Part of our role is to allocate capital, that is, invest and find people who are developing the companies of tomorrow. This involves talent, capacity, creating something that is difficult to copy. My job is basically to find where that potential is. That’s where places like Boiler Instituteare incredible, because they align this very well. We are talking about a talent discovery hub. It’s always a pleasure to be here, talk to people, understand the business and, eventually, this could turn into an investment opportunity in the future. It’s a lot of that: understanding the ecosystem, being close and, at the same time, looking for opportunities.
But we don’t wake up and go to sleep thinking about where the company is, whether it’s Porto Alegre, Ceará or Peru. This is not the main criterion. Of course, there is a greater concentration in Brazil and Mexico, because they are markets with a lot of human capital and opportunities at scale. But within Brazil, the logic is the same: we are location agnostic.
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Startups — Regarding SoftBank’s global thesis, which has recently been aggressively focusing on investments in AI, how does this positioning translate to Brazil?
Alex Sapiro — When you look globally, we have some very clear pillars: language models, robotics, data centers, chips, like ARMand also projects like Stargate. These are investments worth billions of dollars.
When we look at what the SoftBank is doing globally, I would say there are four or five major pillars. We are investing a lot in language models (LLM) such as OpenAIwhere the SoftBank put in US$30 billion initially and another US$30 billion recently. There is also robotics, where we have been investing a lot. One example was the ABB Roboticswith an investment of US$6 billion. Then data centers, with acquisitions such as DigitalBridgein addition to other investments. There is also the part of semiconductors, chips, where the ARM is an important asset. Finally, there are projects like Stargate, which involve infrastructure together with companies like Oracle, Microsoft and OpenAI.
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These are gigantic investments. When we look at Latin America, the question is: what makes sense here? Investing in this deeper layer of AI is more difficult, which is why we look mainly at the application layer. For example, our latest investments in Foundation by you Blipthey are already in companies that are aggregating data and AI to transform this data into something relevant and difficult to replicate.
The difference lies precisely in the ability of businesses to access this data and train models based on it. This creates a very strong competitive advantage.
Startups — How do you assess the degree of maturity of Brazilian startups at this moment? Are businesses emerging with the potential to receive investments at the stage at which SoftBank operates?
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We are a growth stage investor. That means our checks start at $30 million, $40 million. So it’s very rare for us to invest in a small company that’s just starting out. Because, if we do this, we end up having control of the company or paying a valuation that doesn’t make sense for its stage.
The positive side is that Brazil has a very good venture capital ecosystem for early stages, with very strong players. Now, about the current moment: I think we are experiencing an “off-season”. We talk to a lot of companies, a lot of them. On average, we talk to 100 companies, between looking, understanding the plan, and delving deeper. But we need to wait for these companies to reach a level of growth and size that justifies our investment.
Our last new investments were about a year and a half ago. So we are in a moment of much more observation, monitoring and waiting for this growth to happen.
Startups — But do you see a new wave coming, especially with AI, that could generate future advances?
Alex Szapiro — I think so. When we see companies that make us excited, that we see a lot of potential, we start to follow them closely. We create checkpoints with these companies, sometimes quarterly, sometimes semi-annually. Because some of them can grow very quickly. There are companies that grow 100% per quarter, depending on when they find product-market fit.
Suddenly, the company finds the sweet spot, and then comes a very strong acceleration in growth, sales, hiring. So our role is to be close, follow this development and try to understand before others when the company reaches this point, to eventually lead a round. Today, of the approximately 100 companies that we talk to, there are around 20, 25 that we follow very closely.
Startups — And even without new recent announcements, how is the investment flow in Brazil? Is it more under observation or are there negotiations underway?
Alex Szapiro — Even without announcing new investments, we have a portfolio of more than 70 companies and around 8 billion dollars invested in Latin America, much of it in Brazil. So we continue to be very active. We work with these companies, do follow-ons, participate in internal rounds. Sometimes the company wants to do M&A, so we help structure capital for that.
Many companies in our portfolio today are already self-funded, generate cash, have positive EBITDA, and some are preparing for IPO. Furthermore, there is a lot of secondary market movement. Other funds want to enter these companies, buy shares. And then, sometimes, we reduce the position a little, from 20% to 18%, for example, it brings liquidity, but continues to be a relevant investor. So the strategy is multiple: actively managing the portfolio and, at the same time, looking at new opportunities.
Startups — And looking at exits, such as IPOs, how do you see this moment?
Alex Szapiro — Firstly, we don’t need to sell the company to invest again. The capital already exists. So there is no logic of “I need to go out to reinvest”. Second point: the SoftBank It is different because it does not depend on external capital. The money comes from the SoftBank and the founder. This means that we don’t have the same pressure to sell quickly or prove a return to raise a new fund.
This gives you great flexibility to wait for the right moment and not run the risk of selling at the wrong time. But, of course, exit depends on several factors: the company being ready, with good metrics, growth, cash generation, and the market being open. When this happens, exits come, either through an IPO or through a strategic sale.
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