The unbearable heaviness of being Jio Platforms

A year ago it didn’t exist. Today it’s worth $65 billion. In 2 years, $103 billion. Can it deliver the cash flows?

With the funding frenzy dying down for Jio Platforms, Reliance is now valued almost like a FAANG stock

Investors love FAANGs because they build world-class products that spew out cash flows

Jio Platforms will need to deliver 35% compounded growth for 10 years straight

Can it do so without having to build great products?

On 21 April, 2020, Facebook triggered a stampede to fill the glaring hole that had been growing and eating into virtually every Indian sector where technology was a disruptor. The name of that hole was Jio Platforms, an entity less than a year old, which was spun out of India’s largest conglomerate, Reliance Industries Ltd. Facebook’s $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms was rapidly followed by another 12 investments in rapid succession, adding up to over $20 billion.

The hole that got filled had a new value. $65 billion was the value ascribed to Jio Platforms by the world’s largest technology companies and private equity funds.

AUTHOR

Rohin Dharmakumar

Rohin is co-founder and CEO at The Ken. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and an engineering degree in Computer Sciences from the R.V.C.E., Bangalore.

View Full Profile

Others tell you what. We tell you the ‘So What?’

Read articles that decode the most significant shifts happening around business, technology, startups and healthcare. 1000+ articles for subscribers of the India edition. 150+ articles for subscribers of the Southeast Asia edition. Plus premium newsletters that help you make sense of the world around you.

So much journalism in India is superficial.

Articles are generic, almost cookie-cutter in their approach. And they don’t provide enough context on the issues they cover. The Ken is different. I don’t always agree with everything they say but I appreciate their commitment to publishing deeply reported narratives and investigations. Their reporters find new ways to analyze tech among other industries. And that’s always worth a read.

Sid Talwar / Co-Founder and Partner / Lightbox Venture Capital

As entrepreneurs, we thrive on being in the know at all times.

A personal subscription to The Ken was a no brainer. But as startup founders, this isn't enough. Team members also need to be in the know, for everyone handles customer-facing responsibilities and an ecosystem change that impacts customers also impacts us

Kiran Jonnalagadda / Co-founder / HasGeek and Internet Freedom Foundation