General Atlantic invests ₹6598.38 crore in Jio Platforms for 1.34% stake

We are excited to leverage General Atlantic’s proven global expertise, says Mukesh Ambani

Jio Platforms has raised ₹67,194.75 crore from leading technology investors, including Facebook, Silver Lake Partners, Vista Equity Partners and General Atlantic, in less than four weeks

General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm has agreed to invest ₹6598.38 crore in Reliance Industries (RIL's) wholly owned digital services firm Jio  Platforms Limited for 1.34% stake, valuing the company at ₹5.16 lakh crore. With this investment, Jio Platforms has raised ₹67,194.75 crore from leading technology investors including Facebook , Silver Lake , Vista Equity Partners and General Atlantic in less than four weeks.

‘Valued partner’

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of RIL, 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 huge growth potential. General Atlantic shares our vision of a digital society for India and strongly believes in the transformative power of digitisation 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.”

Jio Platforms is a next generation technology platform focused on providing high-quality and affordable digital services across India, with more than 388 million subscribers

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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.”

 

Significant investments

Jio Platforms has made significant investments across its digital ecosystem, powered by leading technologies spanning broadband connectivity, smart devices, cloud and edge computing, big data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, augmented and mixed reality, and blockchains.

Akash Ambani, Director of Reliance Jio, said, “We are delighted that a renowned global investor like General Atlantic is partnering with us in our journey to digitally empower India and Indians. Jio is committed to make a digitally inclusive India that will provide immense opportunities to every Indian citizen, especially to our highly talented youth. General Atlantic’s endorsement and partnership energises Jio’s young team to set, and achieve, even more ambitious goals in our onward march.”

Jio’s stated vision is to enable a Digital India for 1.3 billion people and businesses across the country, including small merchants, micro-businesses and farmers so that all of them can enjoy the fruits of inclusive growth.

‘Transformational impact’

Sandeep Naik, Managing Director and Head of India & Southeast Asia at General Atlantic, said, “General Atlantic has nearly two decades of experience of investing in India, and specifically in founder-led businesses that are based upon principles of enablement, inclusion and progress. In just three-and-a-half years, Jio has had a transformational impact in democratising data and digital services, propelling India to be positioned as a leading global digital economy.”

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm with a 40-year track record of investing in the technology, consumer, financial services and healthcare sectors. The firm has so far backed leading global technology leaders like Alibaba, Ant Financial, Box, ByteDance, Facebook, Slack, Snapchat, and Uber.

RIL shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange closed up 1.63% at ₹1458.90 in an almost flat Mumbai market on Friday, valuing the company at ₹9.25 lakh crore.