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They’ve been around for a long time but the Valley historically doesn’t pay attention to non-Valley players until they reach Valley shores. Softbank, after all, was one of the only very early investors in Alibaba. Alibaba wasn’t even on the Valley’s radar until they IPO’ed. Californian tech folks can’t help but see only within a 100-mile radius.

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For a company that had little non Asian presence, not knowing what soft bank is very reasonable.

It’s like knowing about ICBC, the largest bank in the world but most people have never seen a branch of it.

Couple that with them being like an investment firm outside of Japan. They could be as obscure as Berkshire, a big player, but one most consumers don’t come into contact with.

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