General Atlantic agreed to invest $870 million into Jio Platforms, the telecom and tech subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, at a $65 billion valuation.
Why it matters: Jio is the world's largest mobile provider in the world's second-largest country, with around 35% market share and 400 million subscribers. It also is General Atlantic's largest-ever investment in Asia, despite a long history in the region.
- This is Jio's fourth major investment in the past month, following infusions from Facebook ($5.7b), Silver Lake ($750m) and Vista Equity ($1.5b). Expect a few more deals to be announced shortly, with Jio to go public in a couple of years.
The bottom line: Investors are betting on Jio being the infrastructure for India's shift to digital, and becoming a local mobile champion in a country dominated by foreign players like Facebook/WhatsApp and Google.
