Qualcomm is the latest US tech name supporting India’s Jio platforms

The two companies announced Sunday that Qualcomm’s investment arm would inject up to Rs 7.3 billion (about $ 97 million) into Jio, in exchange for a 0.15% equity stake.

Jio is part of Ambani’s expanding conglomerate, Reliance Industries. It includes the largest mobile network in India with over 388 million subscribers. Jio also has an app ecosystem, offering those millions of mobile users everything from online shopping to digital payments to video streaming.

“Today, I am pleased to welcome Qualcomm Ventures as an investor in Jio Platforms,” ​​Ambani said in a statement. “As a world leader in wireless technologies, Qualcomm offers deep technological insights and insights that will help us deliver on our 5G vision and India’s digital transformation for both individuals and businesses.”

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said in a statement that his company hoped to “play a role in Jio’s vision to further revolutionize India’s digital economy.”

The San Diego-based company is the latest major tech player to power Ambani’s war chest.

In recent months, the company has raised funds from a large number of investors, including Facebook (full board), KKR, Silver Lake, Vista and Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi. Earlier this month, a commitment of 18.9 billion Indian rupees (nearly $ 252 million) was also secured from another American chipmaker, Intel (INTC).

In total, Jio has raised almost 1.2 trillion rupees (about $ 15.6 billion) since April.

Analysts say Ambani’s ultimate goal is to build the next global technology company, one that maintains the rank alongside the likes of Google (GOOGL), Tencent (TCEHY), Amazon (AMZN) and Alibaba (SLIME).

The billions raised in recent months will be used to fuel those grand ambitions, as well as to pay off the debt of its parent company. The oil and energy industry, which forms a large part of Reliance’s business, was severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. World oil demand plummeted due to sharp declines in transportation, industrial and commercial activity, although it has begun to recover with the decrease in blockades.

Last month, the conglomerate stated in a statement that “the combined capital raised has no global precedence in such a short time.”

“This is even more remarkable because this was accomplished amid a global blockade caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Reliance added.

Ambani is using the momentum to reassure its existing investors. “I have kept my promise to shareholders by making Reliance net of debt free long before our original schedule,” it said in a statement last month.

– Sherisse Pham contributed to this report.

.