The sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi Mubadala Investment Co. has made a $700 million investment round for a technology startup supported by SoftBank Group Corp.
The current investment is part of the Emirati state-owned investment company’s new strategy to diversify its portfolio away from the oil industry.
The fund has announced its investment in Reef Technology, a startup that manages hubs in parking lots used for food delivery and other services including COVID-19 testing. Mubadala is joined SoftBank Vision Fund, Oaktree, UBS AM and Target Global in providing the cash for the massive equity financing.
Miami-based Reef Technology was looking forward to a capital raise to fund its expansion from nearly 4,800 to 10,000 new locations around the country, according to a people familiar with the matter.
We are pleased to announce that we have led a US $700 million funding round for @reeftechnology, a tech platform transforming underutilized urban spaces into neighborhood hubs, connecting people to local goods, services and experiences. pic.twitter.com/eCZUKJ1t1S
— Mubadala (@Mubadala) November 4, 2020
In 2018, the Japanese holding company SoftBank acquired a minority stake in the tech firm and the company was reportedly valued at $1 billion at that time.
Mubadala, the global investment firm which manages about $232 billion in assets, is among Gulf sovereign funds which are deviating their oil and natural gas wealth into technology to reduce their crude dependency and support the country to build a diversified economy.
Over the past few years, Mubadala has been planning to increase its investments in technology. As part of this vision, it bought a 5 percent stake in US-based Silver Lake in September and announced that it is working to invest $2 billion in a technology fund run by the private equity firm.
In early 2020, Mubadala came together with regional and global investors that invested billions of dollars into the telecommunications and digital services company Jio which is controlled by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani. Last month the fund announced its $235 million investment in German pharmaceutical company Evotec.
