Jio Platforms, the technology subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has received seventh investment. This is the second investment in the digital enterprise in as little as 24 hours. The company had raised Rs 9,093.60 crore earlier in the day by selling 1.85 percent equity stake. Now, it is seeing the return of existing investor, offering additional investment. Silver Lake Partners, which made an investment right after Facebook acquired 9.99 percent stake, is expanding its investment.
This time, Silver Lake Partners is investing additional Rs 4,546.60 crore for a 0.93 percent stake. This brings the total percent stake owned by Silver Lake Partners to 2.08 percent. It had acquired 1.15 percent stake with Rs 5.655.75 crore investment on May 3, 2020. This brings the aggregate investment by Silver Lake and its co-investors Rs 10,202.55 crore. Jio Platforms has raised a total of Rs 92,202.15 crore since April. Like previous deals, Silver Lake’s investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore.
Jio Platforms gets second investment in less than 24 hours
Jio Platforms has become nothing short of a phenomenon in the country. Its telecom venture became the leading mobile service provider in the country with over 388 million subscribers after entering the market only in 2016. The success of Reliance Jio and Jio Platforms’ digitization drive is seeing strong backing from leading tech companies and PE firms globally. There are reports that Microsoft, Twitter and Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund are also eyeing to invest over $1 billion in the subsidiary of Reliance Industries.
At the end of this investment by Silver Lake Partners, Jio Platforms has sold a total of 19.9 percent stake. It all started with Facebook’s Rs 43,573.62 crore investment for a 9.99 percent stake on April 22. The investment fueled PE firms’ interest. Silver Lake, Vista, General Atlantic, KKR and Mubadala are the others who have significant investment in the company. The investment will help Reliance Industries reach its goal of debt neutral.
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What is Jio Platforms and why investors are pouring money in it
In a statement, Reliance says the digital venture will leverage Jio‘s network technology to build a digital society. It aims to digitize services for consumers, allowing them to shop online and pay online. While such services are already available in the country, Jio Platforms wants to bring kirana stores to the digital world. This is seen as a game changer and a potential business opportunity for WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging platform with nearly 400 million users in the country.