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US investment firm Vista Equity is pumping nearly 114 billion rupees ($1.5 billion) into Jio Platforms, the digital technology arm of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s sprawling conglomerate Reliance Industries.
Reliance said on Friday that the deal values Jio at about $65 billion.
“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,” Ambani said in a statement.
The investment marks the third marquee cash injection for Ambani’s growing tech empire in less than three weeks. Facebook (FB) invested $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms in late April and private equity firm Silver Lake followed earlier this week with $750 million. With a 2.3% stake, Vista would be the third largest investor in Jio Platforms, behind Reliance Industries and Facebook (FB). The deal is subject to regulatory approval.
Jio Platforms has several services under its umbrella, including Reliance Jio, the mobile network that has taken India by storm since launching less than four years ago. The carrier has racked up 388 million users, put Ambani’s brother and rival out of business and forced other local operators to merge. Jio Platforms also includes a family of apps where users can stream movies, shop online, send text messages, read news and more.
Vista Equity, which has over $57 billion in capital commitment, invests in software, data and technology companies.
Robert Smith, Vista chairman and CEO, said in a statement that the investment in Jio will help fuel “exponential growth in connectivity across India.”
India is in the midst of an internet boom. It is the world’s second-largest smartphone market and it boasts hundreds of millions of users eager to take part in the growing digital economy.
And there is still plenty of room to grow: Close to 600 million people in India have yet to gain internet access.
That is why the likes of Alibaba (BABA), Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOGL GOOGLE), Tencent (TCEHY), SoftBank (SFTBY SOFTBANK) and countless other technology giants have pumped billions of dollars into India’s internet scene.
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