REUTERS: Cruise, a U.S. self-driving vehicle company majority-owned by General Motors Co, told Reuters on Friday that a U.S. national security panel approved a US$2.25 billion investment in the firm by Japan's SoftBank Corp.
The approval unlocks a seat for SoftBank on Cruise's board, formalizing its oversight, and cements key financing for Cruise, which has raised US$7.25 billion in capital since last year, the company said. The committee, emboldened by a law last year aimed at strengthening the inter-agency panel, has flexed its muscles increasingly against Chinese companies as Beijing and Washington remain locked in a heated trade and technology row.
The Cruise deal was structured to allow US$900 million of the investment to be disbursed initially, with the remainder provided once Cruise AVs are ready for commercial deployment and contingent on regulatory approval. The two tranches would combine to give SoftBank a nearly 20 percent stake in Cruise.
Its Vision Fund, the world's largest technology fund, unveiled a US$1.5 billion investment in China's top used car platform, Chehauduo Group, in February. Reuters reported in December that the same fund was hiring an investment team based in China to boost its presence in one of the world's most vibrant tech markets.
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