The Reliance Jio funding juggernaut isn’t stopping, at least anytime soon. Adding to a series of multi-billion and multi-million investmentS, Jio Platforms, the parent company that owns Jio’s telecom and digital arms, is getting an $870 million investment from the prolific General Atlantic.
General Atlantic’s investment will translate into a 1.34% equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis. This would result in a similar $64.7 billion valuation that a few of Jio’s previous rounds have seen. With this investment, Jio Platforms has raised a colossal ₹67,194.75 crore (~$8.9 Billion) from the likes of Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista equity and now General Atlantic. The total equity dilution roughly stands at 14.7%, still some 5.3% off from the 20% target that Mukesh Ambani has set.
The premise for General Atlantic’s mega investment is similar to those of previous investors. Jio has over 388 million active subscribers in the country, and has the world’s largest mobile data consumption numbers. The telecom company has quickly diversified into a plethora of digital services, on both the consumer as well as enterprise end. It is now looking to further deepen its reach in India’s vast digital consumer base, by introducing more merchant related digital services.
General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford says, “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.” For those unaware, General Atlantic is one of the oldest backers in the technology space. Its portfolio includes the likes of Airbnb, Alibaba, Uber, Facebook among a host of other mega tech companies.
The General Atlantic investment comes just 2 weeks after Jio announced a similarly large infusion from Vista Equity Partners. Facebook was the one to kick things off, with a $5.7Bn investment at a valuation of close to $58 Billion. Then came Silver Lake, investing$748M for a 1% stake, raising Jio Platforms’ valuation to $65Bn within a span of 2 weeks.
In a recent quarterly earnings calls, Ambani had made it clear that more investments are on the way for Jio, wherein he is looking to dilute close to 20% of the overall stake. The fund-raising activity is largely to clear a rather ballooning net debt that Reliance Industries has on its books. The total equity dilution roughly stands at 14.7%, still some 5.3% off from the 20% target that Mukesh Ambani has set.
