Saudi and Japanese telecoms giant to become world's No. 1 tech investor

Saudi Arabia and Japan’s SoftBank Group (9984.T) will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, making it one of the world’s largest private equity investors and a potential kingpin in the industry.

The move is part of Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision, which is a series of initiatives launched by Riyadh earlier this year to reduce its dependency on oil.

Saudi Arabia’s top sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), will be the lead investment partner and may invest up to $45 billion over the next five years while SoftBank, a $68 billion telecommunications and tech investment giant, expects to invest at least $25 billion.

Several other large, unnamed investors are in active talks on their participation and could bring the total size of the new fund up to $100 billion, SoftBank said.

“Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector,” SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son said in a statement.

At an annual rate of $20 billion, the new London-based fund could at current levels account for roughly a fifth of global venture capital investment.