Softbank’s Vision Fund is to make a $100m investment to expand the technology business of Chinese online insurer ZhongAn.
The $100bn investment fund, which has shaken up the world of technology investing over the past three years, will own a majority stake in the business, with plans to use ZhongAn’s technology in a number of its global investments, such as in Uber and its Chinese rival Didi Chuxing. ZhongAn will also invest $100m in the joint venture.
ZhongAn was originally launched in 2013 by China’s Ant Financial, Tencent and Ping An Insurance and attracted early attention by offering unusual products such as a policy to cover customers who got alcohol poisoning during the 2014 football World Cup.