The group is looking to invest about $300 million in Alphabet Inc.’s Google-backed unicorn, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. One of the people said that the transaction could be completed at the earliest in the next few weeks.
Glance InMobi pushes curated news and entertainment content to the phone lock screen and also runs a short-video app. Another person said Reliance’s investment could include strategic collaboration with a financial element.
Such a deal would give Reliance access to valuable lock-screen real estate on affordable mobile phones it is co-developing with Google and expected to hit the market in late October for the Diwali shopping season. It will also give Reliance a strategic entry into short-video content, a category where users are seeing skyrocketing.
People said that discussions are on and Reliance may decide not to go ahead with the investment. A representative for Jhalak did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, while a representative for Reliance declined to comment.
Google last year agreed to invest $4.5 billion in partnership with Reliance, including plans for low-cost smartphones as part of Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani’s efforts to build up the local technology titan. The phone was set to debut earlier this month, but the launch was delayed due to a global shortage of semiconductors.
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Glance InMobi was founded in 2019 and has around 130 million daily active users. Its Roposo app offers short videos in a dozen Indian languages. The company, whose backers include Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital, in June agreed to acquire e-commerce startup Shop101.