Jio Platforms secures another $1.4b in new investments

Jio Platforms, the digital services arm of India’s Reliance Industries, announced that it has secured US$752 million from a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and an additional US$604 million from US-based Silver Lake and co-investors.

Jio, valued at US$65 billion, has now raised a total of US$13 billion after securing investments from Facebook, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, and Mubadala in a little over a month.

Photo credit: Jim Carter

ADIA will take a 1.2% equity stake in Jio, while Silver Lake’s investment will now translate into a 2.1% equity stake on a fully diluted basis. Silver Lake and co-investors have now invested a total of US$1.4 billion in Jio after announcing a US$747 million injection last month.

ADIA is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with about US$580 billion in assets, according to Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.

“Jio Platforms is at the forefront of India’s digital revolution, poised to benefit from major socioeconomic developments and the transformative effects of technology on the way people live and work,” Hamad Shahwan Aldhaheri, executive director of the private equities department at ADIA, said.

With more than 388 million subscribers across India, Jio Platforms’ digital ecosystem is composed of network, devices, apps, content, and services, among others. It looks to enable a digital India for 1.3 billion people and businesses across the country, including small merchants, microbusinesses, and farmers.

According to Statista, India is the second-largest online market with over 560 million internet users, just behind China. It also has around 50% internet penetration rate as of this year. It’s expected that India will see over 650 million internet users by 2023.

Jio is up against Airtel and Vodafone in the telco and internet spaces in the country. Just last week, it was reported that US ecommerce giant Amazon is in talks for a US$2 billion stake in Airtel. India is an important market for Amazon, which has committed around US$6.5 billion for its expansion in the country.