After buying SoftBank’s Open Opportunity Fund, Paul Judge and Marcelo Claure have announced plans to raise a $200 million fund.
SoftBank Group is a Japanese multinational investment holding company focusing on investment management.
Judge and Claure recently acquired the firm’s $100 million Open Opportunity Fund 1, $150 million Fund 2, and the entire portfolio.
They initially planned to increase Fund 2 to $200, which they are now doing.
A New $200M Fund
The two are now raising the second Open Opportunity Fund, as they want to replicate the same winning recipe with an eye toward backing companies in the fintech, health tech, and tech spaces.
Judge told Business Insider they plan to invest in late seed to early Series A startups, with about a third of the fund dedicated to growth-stage investing.
For Judge and Claure, the fund’s focus is deeply personal.
Both men experienced firsthand the difficulties of raising capital as entrepreneurs of color, and they didn’t want the same experience for the next generation of startup founders/
“The joy and satisfaction that I get by helping diverse founders, not one at a time, but 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 at a time,” Claure said.
“We’re going to be able to create an exponential effort.”
Claure stated they received a soft commitment from SoftBank but now need to close that investment.
He also said he’s contributing $20 million to the new fund.
