Forget Shark Tank India, Here's How Much Mukesh Ambani Has Invested In Indian Startups

Mukesh Ambani, the boss of Reliance Industries and the second richest man in India, knows how to play his cards right. Reliance Industries, controlled by Asia¡¯s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is lining up investors in its retail unit after the conglomerate raised over $20 billion in 2020 from global investors, including Facebook Inc, by selling stakes in its Jio Platforms digital business.

Mukesh Ambani is quite an investor and his investment and acquisition strategies are vast. Not just overseas, throughout the years he has invested thousands of crores in startups in the country.

According to a Morgan Stanley report titled What Reliance is Buying, the group has invested more than $5.6 billion (about Rs 41,500 crore) across sectors, led by telecom and digital business at $2.5 billion, as reported by Bloomberg.

Dunzo

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Dunzo | Photo: Dunzo

Popular errand/ delivery app Dunzo which started its journey as a hyperlocal delivery platform is now $775 million after raising funding from Reliance Retail for a whopping $240 million (around Rs 1,488 crore) in January 2022, which is the largest amount that Reliance has invested in any Indian firm so far and now holds a 25.8% stake in the Bengaluru-based startup. Dunzo offers numerous services ranging across grocery shopping, laundry pick-ups to last-minute gifting options, reported ET.

The funding will be used to strengthen Dunzo¡¯s vision to excel in the quick commerce business, enabling instant delivery of essentials from a network of micro warehouses while also expanding its B2B business vertical to enable logistics for local merchants in Indian cities.

Embibe

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Embibe | Photo: Glassdoor

Founded in 2012 by entrepreneur Aditi Awasthi, education startup Embibe is an Artificial Intelligence powered learning platform, which is designed to deliver learning and life outcomes for students. In 2018 Reliance Industries acquired 73% stake in the startup and so far invested $180 million (Approx. Rs 1340 crore). Meanwhile, Embibe itself has also been on an acquisition spree. In February 2020, it acquired the rival platform OnlineTyari, while in December 2019 it gobbled up another competitor Funtoot.

"The investment in Embibe underlines Reliance¡¯s commitment to growing the education sector in India and the world and making education accessible to the widest possible group of students by deploying technology,¡± Reliance Jio director Akash Ambani in a statement said.

¡°We are excited to partner with Jio, bringing unrivalled acceleration to our growth story through data and device access,¡± Aditi Avasthi, Founder and CEO of Embibe said.

Addverb Technologies

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Addverb Technologies | Photo: Addverb Technologies

Recently India's richest billionaire, Mukesh Ambani acquired a Noida based Indian robotics startup named Addverb Technologies for a whopping $132 million (approximately ?983 crore) with a majority stake of 54% in the company. The five-year-old startup designs and makes software and installs robotic systems. That makes it one of the few companies in the world to work in every aspect of robotics, from hardware and software to deployment. After this transaction by Reliance, the company is valued at $270 million, as per what Addverb¡¯s co-founder and CEO Sangeet Kumar told ET.

Addverb already works in dozens of warehouses across Reliance's empire, including online grocery JioMart, fashion retailer Ajio and internet pharmacy Netmeds, wherein it deploys robotic conveyors, semi-automated systems as well as pick-by-voice software.

Saavn

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Saavn | Photo: Bloombergquint

In March 2018, Reliance acquired Saavn, a leading global music OTT platform from its shareholders, Tiger Global Management, Liberty Media and Bertelsmann for $104 million (Approx. Rs 775 crore) and merge it with its own digital music service Jio Music, valuing the combined music platform at about $1 billion with Jio Music¡¯s implied valuation at $670 million which was possibly the biggest transaction in the Indian music-streaming market so far.

Haptik

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Haptik | Photo: Glassdoor

In April 2019, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Digital Services has signed a deal with Haptik Infotech Pvt Ltd (Haptik), a conversational AI platform for $100 million (Approx. Rs. 700 crore). Reliance holds nearly about 87 per cent of the business with the rest being held by Haptik founders and employees through stock option grants. Haptik is one of the world's largest conversational AI platforms and counts Samsung, Coca-Cola, Future Retail, KFC, Tata Group, Oyo Rooms and Mahindra Group among marquee clients.

Akash Ambani, Director, Reliance Jio, said ¡°This strategic investment underlines our commitment to further boost the digital ecosystem and provide Indian users conversational AI enabled devices with multi-lingual capabilities. We believe voice interactivity will be the primary mode of interaction for Digital India. We are delighted to announce this partnership, and look forward to working with the experienced team of Haptik in realising this vision for offering greater connectivity and rich communication experiences to the billion+ Indian consumers.¡±

Netmeds

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Netmeds | Photo: Livemint

The Mukesh Ambani-owned conglomerate in August 2020 announced the acquisition of a majority equity stake in Chennai-based online pharmacy delivery startup Netmeds (Vitalic Health Pvt. Ltd), a company that connects customers to pharmacists and enable doorstep delivery of medicines, nutritional health and wellness products for a cash consideration of approximately Rs 620 crore. After the deal, RIL holds a 60% stake in the Chennai-based company and 100 per cent direct equity ownership of its subsidiaries - Tresara Health Private Limited, Netmeds Market Place Limited and Dadha Pharma Distribution Pvt. Limited, a by RIL said.

"This investment is aligned with our commitment to provide digital access for everyone in India. The addition of Netmeds enhances Reliance Retail¡¯s ability to provide good quality and affordable health care products and services, and also broadens its digital commerce proposition to include most daily essential needs of consumers. We are impressed by Netmeds¡¯ journey to build a nationwide digital franchise in such a short time and are confident of accelerating it with our investment and partnership," Isha Ambani, Director, RRVL, said.

Radisys

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Radisys | Photo: Cathy Cheney Portland Business

For a further push into Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G through its telecom arm, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Reliance Industries (RIL) acquired Nasdaq-listed telecom solutions provider Radisys Corp. for about $75 million (Rs 510 crore ) in cash. "This acquisition further accelerates (Reliance) Jio¡¯s global innovation and technology leadership in the areas of 5G, IOT and open source architecture adoption," Akash Ambani, director of Reliance Jio, said in the statement.

The US company that open telecom solutions to service providers worldwide has nearly 600 employees in its India unit, which includes an engineering team, and has sales and support offices globally. Radisys delivers value to service providers and telecom equipment vendors by providing disruptive open-centric software, hardware and service capabilities that enable the migration to next-generation network topologies.

Fynd

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Fynd | Photo: JFDI Asia

In August 2019, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) invested Rs 295.25 crore in Mumbai-based firm 'Fynd' with 87.6% stake in its push for online-to-offline (O2O) commerce. Fynd, which was founded in September 2012, acts as a bridge between physical retail stores and buyers online. While Google and the other early investors are exiting the firm, its founders have held onto their equity, said Harsh Shah, who founded the firm along with Farooq Adam and Sreeraman Mohan Girija.

¡°Even though we have a business-to-consumer product, we have five business-to-business and B2B2C products, which are doing extremely well,¡± co-founder Shah told ET. He claimed that Fynd had the largest number of stores, including Reliance, listed on the platform. ¡°Even after this deal, Reliance will continue to be another customer on our platform. We will remain independent in how we run the company,¡± he said.

Reverie

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Reverie | Photo: Glassdoor

Founded in 2009, Reverie is a regional language technology company and joined the RIL club in April 2019 for financial backing from and direct supervision of the Mukesh Ambani-led company. Reverie sold a majority stake for Rs 190 crore to Reliance Industry. According to the press release, Reliance paid INR 1.9 bn (USD 26.7m) in a first tranche and INR 770m (USD 10.8m) in a second tranche ¡°to gain a total of 83.3% equity capital in Reverie on a fully diluted basis. India has a total of 1,599 languages and dialects, with 122 main languages of which 22 are official. While India has an English-speaking population numbering over 125 million, more than 80% of Indians are not fluent in the language.

Urban Ladder

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Urban Ladder | Photo: Elevationcapital

India¡¯s Reliance Industries Ltd bought a 96% stake in online furniture retailer 'Urban Ladder' for a whopping Rs 182 crore rupees, furthering its attempt to expand its presence in India¡¯s online retail market. ¡°The aforesaid investment will further enable the group¡¯s digital and new commerce initiatives and widen the bouquet of consumer products provided by the group,¡± Reliance said.

Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, a unit of Reliance Industries, has an option of buying the remaining stake, the company said, adding that it intends to invest a further 750 million rupees by December 2023.

NowFloats

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Nowfloats | Photo: Entrackr

Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, acquired Hyderabad-based SaaS start-up NowFloats Technologies for Rs Rs 141 crore with majority stake of 85 percent holding in the equity share capital of the brand in 2019. NowFloats was founded by Neeraj Sabhrawal, Nitin Jain, Ronak Kumar Samantray, and Jasminder Gulati in May 2012 that helps Small and mid-size enterprises (SMBs) to set up a business website within minutes, along with auto-SEO, responsive design, product catalogue, and payment gateway as well as engage with their customers on WhatsApp. It also syncs the SMBs¡¯ social media channels for better reach.

In a statement, Reliance Industries said the investment will ¡°further enable the group¡¯s digital and new commerce initiatives.¡± NowFloats is the latest acquisition Reliance has made in the country this year. In August, the conglomerate said it was buying a majority stake in Google-backed Fynd for $42.3 million. In April, it bought a majority stake in Haptik in a deal worth $100 million.

Aesteria

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Aesteria | Photo: Unsplash/Representational image

Reliance Industries Ltd has acquired a 51.78% majority stake for Rs 23.12 crore in drone maker Asteria Aerospace Pvt. Ltd and invested an additional Rs 125 crore to increase its holding to 87.3% in December 2019. Asteria, incorporated in June 2011, is a full-stack drone technology company with in-house drone manufacturing capabilities. It also offers software solutions to provide insights from aerial data, intending to deliver a "drone-as-a-service" digital platform, Reliance said.

Reportedly Turnover of the firm around Rs 1.96 crore, Rs 2.04 crore, and Rs 1 lakh for 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. It reported losses of Rs 12.71 crore, Rs 2.47 crore, and Rs 2.43 crore for the same period.

Grab

Mukesh Ambani Invested In Grab | Photo: Grab

Reliance Industries bought an 83% stake in Mumbai-based hyper-local logistics startup Grab a Grub Services for Rs 146 crore through a mix of fresh investment (in a cash deal worth $14.9 million (Rs 106) Crore and invest up to $5.63 million (Rs 40 Crore) to complete the acquisition deal by March 2021) and buying shares from existing investors, according to a filing made to the stock exchanges, reported TOI. ¡°The investment will augment the group¡¯s digital commerce initiatives and strengthen its logistics services, catering to both B2B and B2C segments,¡± said the company. The acquisition is being made through RIL¡¯s subsidiary Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings.

C-square

Mukesh Amabani Invested In C-square | Photo: Unsplash/Representational image

Reliance acquired approximately 82% of equity capital in C-Square a software company on a fully diluted basis for around Rs 82 crore. RIL said RIIHL has acquired equity shares of C-Square Info Solutions Private Limited ('C-Square') for a cash consideration not exceeding Rs 22.04 crore and further invested an amount of up to Rs 60 crore. The total investment will translate into 82% of equity capital in C-Square on a fully diluted basis.

C-Square is a software company, incorporated on 18 July, 2002. It provides software solutions with specific focus on the pharma sector for various stakeholders including C&F, distributors, retailers, online ecommerce, sales force automation, etc.

Funtoot

Mukesh Amabani Invested In Funtoot | Photo: Unsplash/Representational image

Reliance Industries acquired a 90.5% stake in Bengaluru-based e-learning products and services provider Funtoot for Rs 71.64 crore in 2019, reported by Economic Times. Bengaluru-based Funtoot, started in July 2010 by Rajeev Pathak, develops online learning products that optimises science and mathematics learning for K12 education, apart from providing students with practice, testing and analysis modules for mathematics and science subjects. The startup counts Inventus Capital Partners and Mumbai Angels.

Funtoot reported net profit of Rs 27.74 lakh on revenue of Rs 7.34 crore for the financial year 2019, compared to a net profit of Rs 2.46 crore on revenue of Rs 9.3 crore in the financial year 2018.

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