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

Connecticut-based private equity firm L Catterton and Australian telecom giant TPG Telecom Ltd 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. 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. 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. AMZN and Walmart Inc. WMT dominate the online sale of goods in India at the moment.

TPG Price Action

TPG shares closed 0.45% lower at $17.6 in the otc market on Friday.