Rajeev Misra to step back from leading Softbank’s venture-investing arm Vision Fund

Rajeev Misra, CEO of SB Investment Advisers, which manages SoftBank Vision Fund, known as the banking giant’s investment arm, would be stepping back from his role to run a new outside investment outfit, according to a company memo sent by SoftBank’s founder Masayoshi Son.

Misra will stay on in a reduced capacity at SoftBank while overseeing the Vision Fund investments. As per the memo, he would be stepping back from oversight of Vision Fund 2, which was signed by Son while remaining as the vice chairman of the group that oversees the original's successor.

Misra joined SoftBank in 2014 after a long career in Wall Street and played a major role in turning it into one of the biggest technological investors in the world. The sixty year old industry veteran’s stints include leadership roles at Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Group AG. He was known in the industry circle as a master of complex debt-financing structures. His move is the latest in the line of departure that has rocked the 41 year-old banking institution after experiencing a decline in technology valuations. SoftBank’s CEO Marcelo Claure exited in January while the senior officials like Katsunori Sago, Akshay Naheta and Deep Nishar also left. Son’s long time ally Ronald Fisher also recently left the company’s board and took on a reduced role. 

Misra’s new investment venture will be backed by a set of Abu Dhabi-based investment funds and he will be joined by former SoftBank employees including Naheta, as per reported by Wall Street Journal.

Son has said in the memo that he plans to take a more direct leadership role in the running of Vision Fund 2.

“We face a tough and rapidly evolving economic environment. I am full of motivation, full of confidence, and full of dreams,” he added.