India’s Reliance Industries is investing $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,510 crore) in Glance, a lock display screen content material firm backed by Alphabet and owned by ad-tech agency InMobi, to convey the service to new Jio smartphones this yr, the businesses mentioned on Monday.

The funding, made by way of Reliance’s Jio Platforms unit, values Glance at $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion (roughly Rs. 12,800–13,600 crore) post-money, in response to a supply concerned within the deal.

The integration will enable Reliance’s retail companies to promote merchandise on to Jio customers by way of Glance, a platform that delivers personalised information, leisure content material and reside movies to smartphone lock screens.

Glance may very well be on “hundreds of millions” of Jio telephones this yr, InMobi Group Founder and Chief Executive Officer Naveen Tewari mentioned in a cellphone interview.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance launched its Jio Phone Next on November 4, however gross sales figures haven’t been publicly disclosed.

Ambani has been steadily shopping for stakes in shopper web companies and tying these providers into Reliance Jio, as he seems to be to create a expertise behemoth that comes with connectivity, content material and commerce.

“The deal is also expected to lead to further strategic collaborations between Glance, Reliance Retail, and Jio across devices, commerce, content and gaming ecosystem,” InMobi mentioned in an announcement.

Glance is out there on default in 60 p.c to 65 p.c of recent smartphones bought in India, due to tie-ups with Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and Realme, Tewari mentioned.

It will use the recent funds to develop to US and Latin American markets, and can be testing new methods of content-driven commerce by way of reside movies.

The firm is backed by Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital and Alphabet, which invested $100 million (roughly Rs. 750 crore) in December 2020.

© Thomson Reuters 2022