A penny from Softbank? Didn't you get the memo? Softbank requires you to take at least 1 billion.
:|
and if you don't they will force your competitor to take $1B.
Getting funding from Softbank is like foie gras: they'd literally stuff dollars down your throat.
Yes, it might end up making your startup sick too...
I wouldn't take a penny from either. It's a wide world with an unprecedented amount of capital in the hands of wealthy investors. There are plenty of funding sources that are neither surveillance monopolists nor government administrations that torture and murder journalists.
Softbank is not a software company and probably isn't trying to copy and undercut your business in the future
Nah, they'll just fund your competitor as well, and pit you against each other to see who survives :).
Even if that happens, that's fine. Softbank has no incentive for your business to fail. The company that dies, is more money out of the visionfund.
On the other hand, FB does have an incentive. Sure, they lose that investment, but they gain their own internal company that they own 100% of which has eaten your marketshare.