SoftBank India Head Sumer Juneja Gets Additional Charge, To Oversee EMEA Investments: Report

Amid exodus of top executives from the company, SoftBank Vision Fund’s India head Sumer Juneja has reportedly been entrusted with additional responsibilities to oversee investments in Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA) markets.

“This is a huge leg up for Sumer based on his performance in less than 4 years. Narendra Rathi and Sarthak Misra will play a bigger role in helping Sumer take the India operations forward,” sources familiar with the development told Moneycontrol.

Juneja will report to Rajeev Misra as the latter transitions out of his role as the chief executive officer (CEO) of SoftBank Investment Advisers, the report said.

However, Misra will continue to lead the company as the CEO of Vision Fund 1.

A source was quoted as saying that Juneja will shuttle between India and the UK every month, spending 10 days in the country and the rest in London. 

“Sumer has made 14 investments (till now). Most have done well…”, a source added.

Rathi and Sarthak Misra, who have been assigned the duty of assisting Juneja, were promoted as investment directors last year. In total, SoftBank has just 12 people managing its operations in the country, overseeing assets worth $20 Bn.

Juneja joined SoftBank in 2018 and helped set up the company’s India presence. Since then, he has led SoftBank to invest in multiple domains such as ecommerce, edtech, fintech, among others. He also serves on the board of multiple major startups, including Swiggy, Lenskart, and Ola. 

According to Juneja’s LinkedIn profile, he previously worked with Norwest Venture Partners and Goldman Sachs. 

Upheaval At SoftBank?

Juneja’s elevation comes at a time of major upheaval within the company. Rajeev Misra, who has been one of the top executives within the firm, has been slowly giving up all his titles to begin work on his investment fund.

He has been picking up executives from SoftBank to build the workforce at his new fund. Last week, it was widely reported that managing partners at the company’s Vision Fund, Munish Varma and Yanni Pipilis, were leaving SoftBank to join Rajeev Misra’s fund.

The exodus has put the spotlight on the Masayoshi Son-led company as it grapples with the increasing brain drain. Since March 2020, as many as 10 top executives have left the firm.

SoftBank has also come under fire from investors after a lackluster financial performance in the quarter ending June. The Japanese conglomerate reported its largest-ever quarterly loss of $23.4 billion in the quarter under review, largely on account of poor performance of its flagship tech investments.

The poor show also prompted Son to announce layoffs, saying that the company was looking to cut costs owing to mounting losses.