India’s biggest network provider Reliance Jio today announced that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund, The Public Investment Fund (PIF), has invested $1.5 billion in Jio Platforms.
That takes makes it the 11th investment in Jio Platform this year, with the Indian company raising $15.2 billion to date. With that, Jio has achieved a notable record: it has raised more money than all Indian tech startups combined in 2019. According to data from research firm Tracxn, Indian startups raised $14.5 billion last year.
Jio’s investment spree started in April with Facebook pumping in $5.7 billion in exchange for 9.9% equity. After that, some notable firms such as Silver Lake Funds, General Atlantic, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) have invested in Jio.
India’s richest man and Reliance Industries’ chairman, Mukesh Ambani, started Jio as a network provider in 2016. The carrier now has more than 388 million consumers in India. Despite the size and financial backing, Amabani still refers to the company as “a startup built in India for India by Indians.”
Reliance Jio now refers to itself as Reliance Jio Platforms that encapsulates the network business in addition with its ecommerce offering JioMart, entertainment apps such as JioSaavn, JioCinema, and JioTV, and a chat app named JioChat.
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