Happy Friday!
Jio Platforms, the holding company of India’s largest telecom operator, has roped in a third investor in less than three weeks. Last month, it was Facebook that ploughed Rs 43,574 crore into Reliance Jio Infocomm’s parent. That was followed by a Rs 5,656-crore investment by Silver Lake Partners earlier this week.
A flurry of deals
Vista Equity Partners will invest Rs 11,367 crore in Jio Platforms for a 2.32% stake. After the latest deal, Jio Platforms—which includes Reliance Jio and a bouquet of varied digital offerings—will be valued at Rs 5.16 lakh crore.
These stake sales, apart from paring RIL’s debt, will bolster the oil-to-telecom conglomerate’s plans to cement its presence in India’s consumer internet space. Vista, one of the world’s largest exclusively tech-focused private equity funds, will become the largest investor in Jio Platforms after Reliance Industries and Facebook. Read more.
Related coverage: How Facebook is logging into the Reliance Jio ecosystem
Reliance’s retail play
Picture this: Consumers use a chatbot on WhatsApp and simply message — Hi. Almost instantly, there is a call for your pin code, followed by a link to place the order. Once the order is placed however, a PDF-based confirmation with the store’s details is sent to the user’s message box within five minutes. The next day, a JioMart delivery executive delivers the product, with a quick prompt from the company — a notification that the user has been enrolled into a programme called “Jio Prime Shop.”
Why it matters
JioMart, which started out as a point-of-sale (PoS) machine installation drive and order placing platform for kirana (corner) stores in early 2019, is leveraging its entire ecosystem—from its cash and carry unit for procurement and private labels to credit, inventory management, demand generation and doorstep delivery. Read more.
More ESOPs
Some of India’s leading consumer internet startups are offering additional stock options to employees in a bid to retain them following broad pay cuts due to economic upheaval triggered by Covid-19.
Online food delivery major Zomato, hospitality chain Oyo Hotels & Homes, grocery delivery company Grofers and mobility venture Bounce, are among those bulking up employee stock option pools, after initiating salary cuts—mandatory or voluntary—across the board.
In numbers
- Grofers is increasing the size of its Esop pool by an additional $25 million.
- Paytm will offer Rs 250 crore in Esops to high-performing employees and new hires. Read more.
Back on the road
Uber has restarted operations in green and orange zones, which account for more than 80% of India’s 733 districts, its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on a conference call with analysts. On May 3, the cab aggregator had resumed services in 21 green and orange zone cities including Gurgaon, Mangalore, and Kochi.
Quarterly results
- Revenue of Uber rose 14% year-on-year to $3.54 billion in the quarter ended March.
- The company, however, posted a loss of $2.9 billion during the same period.
- This included a $2.1 billion pre-tax write-down of the value of some of Uber’s minority investments.
Highly Quotable
“I won’t sugarcoat it… Covid-19 has had a dramatic impact on rides with the business down globally around 80% in April. Still, there’s some green shoots driving restrained optimism. We’ve seen week-on-week growth globally for the past three weeks.” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Read more.
Deals of the week
A quick look at this week’s most important investments in the tech and startup space.
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