They arrived at King's Cross station and spent more than three hours in the capital, checking their timings, security and the layout of the underground network.
The Internet portal business grew quickly, as users turned to them to find their way through the new medium, and thousands of dot-coms bought advertising with their freshly cashed venture capital checks.
Although the model is exciting, it's a purely sales driven business, which requires a large sales force (checked), lots of capital (checked) and a functioning network in the cosmetics industry needed to equip the company with those samples.
Instead of putting small amounts in early-stage companies, Arora says SoftBank searches for startups with proven business models and puts in significant capital (checks start at about $100 million) to speed up their growth.
While they might have simply cashed more venture capital checks, they opted for Kickstarter, viewing the funding platform as a singular opportunity.
With less than a year to go and with every Olympic sport visiting the capital to check on progress, London erupted in riots that left many questioning security plans.
Insisting the IOC had a "zero-tolerance" approach to corruption, its vice-president John Coates spoke out on the issue on a visit to the Japanese capital to check on preparations for the 2020 Games.
The Speaker of the Syrian Parliament has written to Commons Speaker John Bercow inviting a parliamentary delegation to the Syrian capital to check the UN's conclusions.
After a morning of bilateral meetings and calls to capitals to check positions, the Iranian delegation went back into the chamber at Geneva's Palais des Nations with diplomats from six nations to resume discussion on Iran's plans for dealing with the decade-old nuclear deadlock.
I spent a few days in the capital and checked in with business owners and other people around the city to get the skinny on what day-to-day life is like in this once euphoric capital.
