SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son announced on Thursday that the Japanese technology giant has formed a joint venture in Japan with Chicago-based health tech company Tempus. The two companies plan to conduct data analytics in Japan and develop personalized medical services using AI under the name SB Tempus.
The company plans to start with oncology, which remains the biggest cause of death in Japan, according to Son, whose father died of the disease last year.
The move underscores Son's ambitious and broad focus on AI. At a special press conference today, Son detailed one more specific application of AI: the healthcare industry.
SoftBank's relationship with Tempus began prior to today's joint venture news. SoftBank invested $200 million in Tempus in April, just before the company went public on the Nasdaq earlier this month. Tempus was valued at $8.1 billion in 2022, but raised nearly $411 million at a valuation of over $6 billion through its IPO. However, that valuation was not justified, and the company's current market cap is $4.5 billion.
The US-based genomic testing and data analytics company was founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneur and billionaire Groupon founder Eric Lefkofsky after he realised doctors were not relying on data during his wife's breast cancer treatment.
Tempus competes with other companies including Foundation Medicine, which uses big data to analyze tumors, and Guardant Health, a biotech company that sells a blood test that can potentially track and detect cancer.
SB Tempus will be a vehicle for Tempus to introduce data-driven medical technologies to Japan. Tempus will “build clinical sequencing capabilities, organize patient data, and build a real-world data business in Japan,” Son said, noting that SB Tempus will provide genomic testing, medical data aggregation and analysis (genomic, clinical, pathology, imaging data), and AI insights for personalized treatment and therapy.
Both companies are investing heavily in the venture: SoftBank and Tempus each own a 50% stake, with SoftBank planning to put in 30 billion yen (about $188 million), Son said onstage at a news conference.
Son said SB Tempus, which will begin operations in August, plans to offer three medical services to hospitals as early as this year that use AI to analyze individuals' medical data.
How it works: The joint venture will collect and analyze patient genetic data from Japanese hospitals and universities. The data, including genome, pathology, clinical information, and photo images, will be used to train AI patterns for Japanese patients. The company will provide the processed data for clinical use to hospitals, and the AI will suggest the best treatment for patients.
Son said that only about 1% of patients in Japan have had the opportunity to undergo genomic testing, compared to about 30% in the United States, and mentioned the company's goal to reach the same level as the United States.
The plan is to expand beyond the fight against cancer to other diseases such as neuropsychology, radiology and cardiology.
The announcement came about a week after the Japanese tech giant's CEO made a special appearance at the group's annual general meeting last Friday.
Son said AI will be 10,000 times smarter than humans in 10 years' time, and laid out his vision of a world with artificial superintelligence (ASI) at the conference, saying SoftBank's previous investments were “just a warm-up” for his ambition to create the AI era.
Son reiterated that AI will benefit humans in a variety of areas, adding that healthcare is one example. SoftBank is among the companies interested in investing in US-based AI company Perplexity AI at a valuation of $3 billion, via its Vision Fund 2, Bloomberg reported today. TechCrunch first reported on the round in April.
A series of losses at SoftBank's investment arm, the Vision Fund, has led the Japanese tech titan to switch to “defense mode” and adopt a more conservative investment strategy. Now, with billions of dollars in reserve, SoftBank appears ready to get serious about investing in AI.