SoftBank Seeks Up to $100 Billion From Gulf Investors for AI Fund
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is reportedly seeking up to $100 billion from Gulf investors, including in the United Arab Emirates, for a new fund. According to the Financial Times, reported on 9 October 2026, the fund would buy existing companies and use artificial intelligence and robotics to improve how they operate, instead of only financing AI model makers. SoftBank has not confirmed the plan, and no investor commitments have been announced. For businesses that automate work, the report is a signal that AI is moving from software tools into the operation of whole companies. It is a proposal, not a done deal, so the practical step for now is to document your processes and measure your routine work.
In short
- SoftBank is reportedly seeking up to $100 billion from Gulf investors for a fund that buys companies and applies AI to them.
- The plan comes from a Financial Times report on 9 October 2026, and SoftBank has not confirmed it.
- The fund would target businesses that have not yet adopted AI or robotics, which puts routine work in focus.
- Businesses should document routine processes now, whatever the outcome of the fundraising.
- Automation cannot fix a weak product or a broken sales process.
What happened
SoftBank Group chief executive Masayoshi Son is reportedly looking to raise as much as $100 billion from investors in the Gulf. The Financial Times published the report on Friday 9 October 2026, citing people familiar with the matter, and Reuters carried it the same day. Son has held talks in recent weeks with senior figures, including in the United Arab Emirates. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the report, and SoftBank has not confirmed the fundraising.
The money would go into a fund that buys companies and then uses AI and other advanced technology to improve their operations. According to the Financial Times, SoftBank's robotics and physical AI unit, Roze, would play a large role in that work. Earlier SoftBank vehicles mostly financed technology companies. This one would own operating businesses.
Why it matters for businesses that automate work
Most AI money of the past few years has gone to model developers, chip makers and data centres. A fund that buys ordinary businesses and changes how they run would put the focus on routine work: order handling, reporting, billing, reconciliations and document flows. Those are the tasks where automation is already being tested in many firms.
The scale is also worth noting. According to the Japan Times, Son raised commitments of nearly $100 billion for the first Vision Fund in 2017, much of it from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala. The new target would be similar in size.
Adoption is broad but shallow. McKinsey's 2025 State of AI survey found that 88 percent of organisations use AI in at least one business function, up from 78 percent a year earlier. Yet most companies were still in pilot or experimenting stages. According to a Forbes summary of the same McKinsey research, no more than 10 percent of respondents in any single function said they were scaling AI agents. A buyer of operating companies would be betting on closing that gap.
What changes in practice for a business that automates work
If the fund goes ahead, the change will come through ownership and through the tools a company is asked to use. The table below shows where the impact is most likely to show up, based on what has been reported so far.
| Group | What may change | What to do now |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses that have not yet adopted AI | The report names this group as the target. Owners could face a buyer who wants automation quickly. | Write down how each routine task is done today, who does it, and where errors appear. |
| Firms already running automation | Documented workflows and clean data are easier to review in any sale or partnership. | Keep a record of which tools run which steps, and who can change them. |
| Staff doing data entry and follow-ups | Routine work is the first thing a new owner would look to automate. | Move people toward exception handling, customer contact and checking outputs. |
| Suppliers and service providers | Portfolio companies may change which tools and vendors they use. | Make sure your integrations can be moved or connected to new systems. |
Whatever the outcome, the practical work is the same for any size of business. Start with the processes that happen every day and that follow a fixed pattern. Measure how long they take and how often they fail. Only then choose a tool. Automation on top of a messy process usually repeats the mess faster.
Limits and open questions
The plan is not confirmed, and the report itself says the fundraising is not guaranteed. It is also unclear whether the fund would only buy companies or would also finance the development of Roze. SoftBank's position is under scrutiny. According to the Japan Times, SoftBank shares fell as much as 7.3 percent in Tokyo on Friday, and the company faces rising borrowing costs.
Automation also has hard limits. It does not fix a weak product, unclear pricing or a customer base that is shrinking. A company that automates a broken sales process will simply produce broken sales faster. Staff judgment is still needed for disputes, unusual cases and any decision that carries legal or financial liability.
What to watch next
Four things will show whether the plan becomes real. The first is whether SoftBank confirms the fundraising and names any investor commitments. The second is whether the fund names its first target business, and what it plans to change there. The third is the timing of OpenAI's public listing, since SoftBank's AI spending is tied to that company. The fourth is whether Roze is listed, which Son has reportedly planned.
How AiStaffo would automate this
For a company that is a possible target of this kind of investment, the first job is to map the back office: order intake, invoicing, payment follow-ups, reconciliations, and monthly reports. AiStaffo would connect those steps to the systems the business already uses, such as accounting software, email, spreadsheets and the customer records. The automation would then run the repetitive parts, such as entering documents, sending reminders and building the reports, and log each step so nothing is lost. The owner still decides on exceptions, approves payments and reviews the output each month. Book a free automation audit.
Questions people ask
Has SoftBank confirmed the $100 billion AI fund?
What kind of businesses would the SoftBank AI fund buy?
Does this affect a small business that automates its own work?
What should a business do first if it wants to automate routine work?
Can automation replace all office staff?
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