India’s Jio Platforms to bank $1.5b from US-based Vista Equity

Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) announced that US private equity firm Vista Equity Partners will be pumping about US$1.5 billion into its digital services arm Jio Platforms for a 2.32% stake.

Photo credit: Jim Carter

The development follows a string of investments into Jio Platforms, which includes a US$747 million commitment from US private equity firm Silver Lake earlier this week and a US$5.7 billion capital injection from social networking major Facebook two weeks ago.

The most recent investment now gives Jio Platforms an equity value of almost US$65 billion and an enterprise value of around US$68.3 billion. It also makes Vista the largest investor in Jio Platforms, behind RIL and Facebook, according to a statement.

Vista is a global investment firm that focuses on enterprise software, data, and tech opportunities. It currently has more than US$57 billion in cumulative capital commitments. The company’s portfolio companies also have a significant presence in India, with more than 13,000 employees in the country.

“Like our other partners, Vista also shares with us the same vision of continuing to grow and transform the Indian digital ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians,” said RIL chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani.

Jio Platforms started its commercial operations in 2016, the same year Ambani invested US$33 billion to build a nationwide 4G broadband service network. It now acts as an umbrella platform for RIL’s digital initiatives such as its apps, digital ecosystems, and 4G data voice call services.

Last week, its ecommerce platform JioMart began testing a grocery shopping feature on Facebook’s WhatsApp, following the social network’s multibillion-dollar investment. It was reported that Facebook and Jio Platforms have plans to build a WeChat-like super app for India.