Jio Platforms, India's largest tech and telecom company, has received a new round of investments through the US private equity firm Silver Lake.
Silver Lake, which is known for its winning track record of placing investments in promising tech giants, is investing $748.5 million in India's Jio Platforms.
Jio Platforms and Silver Lake's Investment
Jio Platforms is digital technology arm of conglomerate Reliance Industries, owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani. According to Reliance Industries, the additional funds will be used by Jio Platforms to expand its digital services.
In a statement, Ambani said: "Silver Lake is one of the most respected voices in technology and finance. We are excited to leverage insights from their global technology relationships to fuel India's transformation into a digital society."
The private equity firm currently has more than $40 billion in assets under management and is known for its investments in large tech companies including Alibaba, Tesla, Dell and Alphabet's self-driving car unit Waymo.
Silver Lake co-chief executive officer (CEO) and managing partner Egon Durban stated that Jio Platforms has brought "the power of low-cost digital services to a mass consumer and small businesses population."
Durban added: "The market potential they are addressing is enormous."
Facebook acquires stake in Jio Platforms
In April, cocial media giant Facebook has acquired a 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms for $5.7 billion. The $5.7 billion deal between Facebook and Jio Platforms will give the tech giant a key foothold in India, one of the world’s fastest growing internet markets.
Jio Platforms provides various services under its umbrella, including the mobile network Reliance Jio. It has signed up almost 390 million subscribers since its launch three and a half years ago.
JioMart is Reliance’s retail arm, which is forming a partnership with Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp that could potential enable Facebook to monetize WhatsApp’s users in India.
Ambani expressed that Reliance is “humbled by the opportunity to welcome Facebook as our long-term partner in continuing to grow and transform the digital ecosystem of India.”
Reliance Jio also released a statement saying that the deal will be good for both the company and the country as a whole. It stated: “This partnership will accelerate India’s all-round development, fulfilling the needs of Indian people and the Indian economy.”
WhatsApp and JioMart
Facebook’s WhatsApp chat service currently has 400 million users in India and is poised to launch a payments service.
In a statement, Facebook’s chief revenue officer David Fischer and vice president and managing director for India Ajit Mohan emphasized: “This investment underscores our commitment to India, and our excitement for the dramatic transformation that Jio has spurred in the country.”
They also said that the firm plans to focus on the partnership between WhatsApp and Reliance’s e-commerce venture JioMart to enable people to connect with businesses, shops and purchase products.
Fischer and Mohan pointed out that by bringing together JioMart, the company’s small business initiative, and WhatsApp, “we can enable people to connect with businesses, shop and ultimately purchase products in a seamless mobile experience.”
Facebook received permission from the Indian government in February to start a phased roll-out of its WhatsApp Pay, two years after it began a trial version of the service in the country.
