SoftBank Vision Fund CFO Navneet Govil exits after a decade as AI bets take centre stage

The chief financial officer of SoftBank Group's Vision Fund investing arm, Navneet Govil, is leaving the company after a decade there, according to an internal memo ‌reviewed by ⁠Reuters.

The ⁠company will share details regarding transition responsibilities in due course, Alex Clavel, CEO of SoftBank Investment Advisors, wrote in the memo.

Reuters is reporting the move for the first time. SoftBank Vision Fund declined ⁠to comment.


Govil, ‌CFO of SoftBank Investment Advisors, first joined SoftBank in 2016, a ⁠year before the launch of the first Vision Fund, which upended the startup investing world with its high-conviction bets.

While some investments were profitable, others such as office sharing firm WeWork soured as some of the hottest ‌startups fell out of market favour.

The Vision Fund has undergone layoffs and restructuring as SoftBank ⁠founder and CEO Masayoshi Son's focus shifted to investing in AI-related firms.

Vision Fund 2, launched in 2019 to invest in earlier-stage technology startups, has become the holding entity for SoftBank's oversized bet on ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.