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SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son visits Jakarta in July. Also pictured: the co-founder of ride-hailing unicorn Grab, Anthony Tan, second from left, and the co-founder of e-commerce unicorn Tokopedia, William Tanuwijaya, right.   © Reuters
The Big Story

Hungry for growth, Vision Fund-backed startups turn investors

Buying spree may come at the cost of weaker business focus

WATARU SUZUKI, Nikkei staff writer | Southeast Asia

TOKYO -- "Limit yourself to become limitless." That was what SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son told William Tanuwijaya, the founder of Indonesian e-commerce company Tokopedia.

Founded in 2009, Tokopedia is one of Southeast Asia's handful of "unicorns"-- private companies valued at more than $1 billion -- and one of 81 companies to have received the blessing of the Vision Fund, SoftBank's giant tech investment vehicle.

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