Within days of Facebook and Silver Lake investment, Jio Platforms, the Indian telco arm of Reliance Industries Limited gets another big investment. Vista Equity Partners (Vista) has announced an investment of Rs 11,367 crore into Jio Platforms. This would translate to 2.32 per cent equity stake in the company.
With the investment, Vista would become the third-largest investor in Jio Platforms behind Reliance Industries and Facebook. The deal values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore.
Vista got 20 years of investing experience exclusively in enterprise software and is a leading global investment firm focused on empowering and growing enterprise software, data and technology-enabled companies. Their portfolio companies already have a significant presence in India with over 13,000 employees.
“We believe in the potential of the Digital Society that Jio is building for India. Mukesh’s vision as a global pioneer, alongside Jio’s world-class leadership team, have built a platform to scale and advance the data revolution it started. We are thrilled to join Jio Platforms to deliver exponential growth in connectivity across India, providing modern consumer, small business and enterprise software to fuel the future of one of the world’s fastest-growing digital economies,” said Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista in a statement.
In the last three-and-a-half-year Reliance Jio has disrupted the entire 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.
“I am delighted to welcome Vista, one of the world’s marquee tech investors globally as a valued partner. 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. They believe in the transformative power of technology to be the key to an even better future for everyone. In Robert and Brian, whose family hails from Gujarat, I found two outstanding global technology leaders who believe in India and the transformative potential of a Digital Indian Society. We are excited to leverage the professional expertise and multi-level support that Vista has been offering to its investments globally for the benefit of Jio,” said Mr Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd.