After a week of silent, Jio Platforms the telecom and digital arm of Reliance Industries is again in the news. This time, Intel Capital the investment arm of Intel Corporation is investing Rs 1,894.50 crore in Jio Platforms. This would take the valuation of Jio to Rs 4.91 lakh crore (equity value) and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore. Once the investment gets through, Intel will have 0.39 per cent stake in the platform.
With this investment, Jio Platforms has in total raised Rs 117,588.45 crore. Till date, the company has attracted eleven leading global investors and twelve investments. The investment came from Facebook, Silver Lake (2 investment), Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton, PIF and finally Intel.
Intel Capital is the investment arm of Intel Corporation and has invested globally in innovative companies with a focus on disruptive technology areas like cloud computing, artificial intelligence and 5G.
“Jio Platforms’ focus on applying its impressive engineering capabilities to bring the power of low-cost digital services to India aligns with Intel’s purpose of delivering breakthrough technology that enriches lives. We believe digital access and data can transform business and society for the better. Through this investment, we are excited to help fuel digital transformation in India, where Intel maintains an important presence,” said Mr Wendell Brooks, Intel Capital President in a press statement.
In the last three-and-a-half-year Reliance Jio has disrupted the entire telecom and digital ecosystem of India. With cheap data plans, the telco has gathered more than 388 million subscribers, thus wearing the crown of top telecom operator in India. The telco has built its world-class eco-system with services like JioTV (live tv streaming), JioSaavn (music streaming), JioPay (payment service), JioFibre broadband, LYF smartphones and smart devices. The best part here is that the telco has been offering these devices, applications, content and services at affordable tariffs as part of Jio Digital Life.
Moving ahead, Jio has also entered the retail sector with the launch of JioMart. With a backbone of more than 7K stores spread across India, JioMart is slowly pushing itself to more cities and regions.
“Intel is a true industry leader, working towards creating world-changing technology and innovations. Intel Capital has an outstanding record of being a valuable partner for leading technology companies globally. We are therefore excited to work together with Intel to advance India’s capabilities in cutting-edge technologies that will empower all sectors of our economy and improve the quality of life of 1.3 billion Indians,” said Mr Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of RIL.