Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio is all set to raise Rs 730 crore from Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated for 0.15% stake. This is the second deal closed by Jio in the last two weeks and thirteenth in the previous 12 weeks.
Dwarfing all fundings in the Asian region, the Mukesh Ambani-led firm has cornered Rs 118,318.45 crore in total funding against a 25.24% stake.
Besides investment, Qualcomm would help the platform to roll out advanced 5G infrastructure and services in the country. It is worth noting that Qualcomm, Jio, Amazon, and Flipkart were reportedly working together to develop India-relevant 5G use cases.
With the fresh round, Jio is valued at an equity valuation of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore. Qualcomm would own a 0.15% stake in the company on a fully diluted basis.
“Qualcomm has been a valued partner for several years, and we have a shared vision of connecting everything by building a robust and secure wireless and digital network and extending the benefits of digital connectivity to everyone in India,” said Ambani on the latest deal.
Marking the largest deal in the Indian internet space, the company scooped up Rs 43,574 crore funding from Facebook for a 9.9% stake in April. Since then, several blue-chip backers like Vista Equity, General Atlantic, KKR, Silver Lake, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, TPG, L Catterton, and Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund PIF have also infused funds in Jio.
Qualcomm Ventures’ local portfolio includes sales enablement platform MindTickle, medical services company Portea, office commute automation startup MoveInSync, and farm to retail platform Ninjacart among others.
