Reliance’s Jio Platform bags $870m investment from General Atlantic

Jio Platforms, an Indian digital services platform owned by Reliance Industries, has secured an investment of INR 65.98 billion ($870.25 million) from US private equity firm General Atlantic.

As part of the deal, the private equity firm takes a stake of 1.34% in the digital services platform, which is claimed to have built an all-IP data strong future proof network with 4G LTE technology, via its fully-owned subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm.

The investment from General Atlantic values Jio Platforms at an equity value of INR 4.91 trillion while giving it an enterprise value of INR 5.16 trillion.

Jio Platforms is engaged in offering digital services across India, with over 388 million subscribers. The business is said to have made considerable investments across its digital ecosystem, powered by technologies spanning broadband connectivity, cloud and edge computing, smart devices, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, augmented and mixed reality, and also blockchain.

Reliance’s Jio Platform bags $870m investment from General Atlantic – Mukesh Ambani – Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries. Photo courtesy of World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland/Wikipedia.org.

Mukesh Ambani – Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries said: “I am thrilled to welcome General Atlantic, a marquee global investor, as a valued partner. I have known General Atlantic for several decades and greatly admired it for its belief in India’s growth potential. General Atlantic shares our vision of a Digital Society for India and strongly believes in the transformative power of digitization in enriching the lives of 1.3 billion Indians.

“We are excited to leverage General Atlantic’s proven global expertise and strategic insights across 40 years of technology investing for the benefit of Jio.”

Following the investment, the digital services platform has raised INR 671.94 billion ($8.87 billion). Reliance Industries subsidiary had previously bagged investments from multiple technology investors like Facebook, Silver Lake, and Vista Equity Partners in a span of one month or so.

Bill Ford – CEO of General Atlantic said: “As long-term backers of global technology leaders and visionary entrepreneurs, we could not be more excited about investing in Jio. We share Mukesh’s conviction that digital connectivity has the potential to significantly accelerate the Indian economy and drive growth across the country.

“General Atlantic has a long track record working alongside founders to scale disruptive businesses, as Jio is doing at the forefront of the digital revolution in India.”