Saudi Arabia ($45 billion) and Abu Dhabi (Mubadala, $15 billion) have invested a total of $60 billion of their oil generated funds info Softbank Masayoshi Son’s Vision Fund. Masayoshi has been selling the fund as investments that will take advantage of a technological Singularity.
Singularity’s in astronomy and physics are black holes.
There was a Simpsons episode (Tree House of Horror) where Lisa Simpsons finds a blackhole.
5 minutes into the video on Youtube, Lisa drags the blackhole with a tree branch past a hillbillies house. The blackhole rips up the house and for a second the hillbilly has struck oil. Then the blackhole sucks the oil away.
This has some similarities to Masayoshi’s Singularity getting oil funds.
Although I think even if Masayoshi is not correct about the Singularity his fund can still do fine as it is invested in relatively well positioned mainstream technology companies and technology startups.
Masayoshi raised $100 billion in about one year and is talking about raising another $100 billion fund.
Masayoshi can probably raise 3 or 4 large funds before having to prove returns with the first few funds.
One benefit for the middle eastern state oil money sources is that Masayoshi can arrange deals with minority interest in technology companies that could receive more regulatory resistance if they were purely Saudi or middle eastern money.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.