Just a few weeks after Facebook announced that it was investing 5.7 billion dollars in Jio Platforms, Silver Lake Partners, an American private equity firm, has now invested 750 million dollars in Jio Platforms as well. As we reported earlier, Facebook has already invested in Jio Platforms and are looking to create a sort of ‘super app’, much like Weibo chat in China. The deal was Facebook’s largest since the company bought the messaging app WhatsApp in 2014. Facebook spent a whopping 22 billion dollars on that acquisition.
According to various reports, the investment by Silver Lake Partners represents a shift as this is the first big investment for the equity firm in India. This could put Reliance in a dominant position and could see the telecom giant really push forward when and if the COVID-19 outbreak quells down. Talking about the investment, Reliance Industries Limites Chairman, Mukesh Ambani said, “I am delighted to welcome Silver Lake as a valued partner in continuing to grow and transform the Indian digital ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians. Silver Lake has an outstanding record of being a valuable partner for leading technology companies globally. Silver Lake is one of the most respected voices in technology and finance. We are excited to leverage insights from their global technology relationships for the Indian Digital Society’s transformation."
As the country goes through a relative time of turmoil because of the Coronavirus, it looks like companies like Reliance Jio are looking to revitalise the economy of India by introducing digitisation across all areas of the country. Reliance has also said that the company has piqued the interest of other financial investors.
Reliance is also looking to launch Jio Meet, the company’s video calling app and have also offered 2GB free complementary data for Jio users.