We can’t help but repeat this line every time a Jio Platforms fundraise news comes to us, “The Jio fundraising juggernaut continues to roll”. And that juggernaut has rolled once again, this time raising another $1.2Bn from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund, Mubadala Investments. This will be the 6th such fundraise by Jio in almost a month, after having raised money from the likes of Facebook, Silver Lake, General Atlantic, Vista Equity and more recently, legendary PE firm KKR.
And similar to previous rounds (except Facebook), the company has raised this money at a staggering $65Bn valuation. Mubadala receives 1.85% stake in Jio Platforms. While there is obviously nothing left to say about this rather legendary fundraising exercise that Mukesh Ambani has embarked upon, the total amount has now crossed $10Bn. This makes Jio Platforms’ fundraise among the largest by privately held companies globally. The company has now divested close to 19% of its stake across all its fundraising deals.
Mubadala manages over $229Bn in assets and is the second biggest state investor after Abu Dhabi Investment authority. Jio, the Reliance-led telecom business, has over 388 Million subscribers in India, the largest in the country.
“I am delighted that Mubadala, one of the most astute and transformational global growth investors has decided to partner us in our journey to propel India’s digital growth towards becoming a leading digital nation in the world,” Mukesh Ambani, chairman and MD of RIL, said in a statement. “Through my longstanding ties with Abu Dhabi, I have personally seen the impact of Mubadala’s work in diversifying and globally connecting the UAE’s knowledge-based economy”, he added.
In a related news, the parent company behind Jio Platforms, Reliance Industries Limited, also saw a blockbuster rights issue. Against a stipulated issue of 530 billion (~$7Bn), the company received bids worth 800 billion (~$10.6Bn). The rights issue became the largest such exercise in the world for a non-financial institution, in the last 10 years.
