Catterton, TPG Invest $848M In Facebook-Backed Jio Platforms, Bringing Company's Funding To $13.7B In 2 M

Connecticut-based private equity firm L Catterton and Australian telecom giant TPG Telecom Ltd (OTC:TSLX) have become the latest investors in Indian behemoth Reliance Industries Ltd.'s subsidiary Jio Platforms.

What Happened

Catterton invested $249.32 million in the digital services arm of Reliance for a stake of 0.39%, and TPG put in $598.36 million for a 0.93% stake, Jio announced Saturday.

"Jio is a disruptive industry leader that is empowering small businesses and consumers across India by providing them with critical, high-quality digital services. The company is bringing unmatched potential and execution capabilities to the market, setting the tone for all technology companies to come," TPG Co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Coulter said in a statement.

The investments value Jio at $67.9 billion.

Why It Matters

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) acquired a 9.99% stake in Jio with an investment of $5.7 billion in April. The social media company's funding was followed by a saga of investments that has seen Jio raising $13.73 billion in less than two months.

Other investors have included Silver Lake, General Atlantic, Vista Equity Partners, KKR & Co, Inc. (NYSE:KKR), Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and Mubadala.

Jio was launched publicly in 2016 as a telecom network and has since expanded into a variety of digital services in India.

The company's latest plan is to capture the country's e-commerce market in partnership with the Facebook subsidiary WhatsApp. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) dominate the online sale of goods in India at the moment.