Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), parent company of India's Reliance Jio Infocomm, has announced an agreement to combine its digital music service JioMusic with global OTT music platform Saavn.
The combination will create an entity valued at over $1 million, giving JioMusic an implied valuation of $670 million.
The companies plan to develop the integrated business into a media platform with global reach, providing access to cross-border original content and one of the largest mobile advertising mediums.
Reliance Industries has announced it will also invest up to $100 million – including $20 million upfront – to fund growth and expansion of the platform. The company will also acquire a $104 million stake in Saavn from its existing shareholders.
JioMusic offers a library of over 16 million songs from Indian and international labels across 20 languages.
Reliance Industries said the combined business will benefit from Saavn's digital media expertise as well as Jio's extensive connectivity and digital ecosystem.
“The investment and combination of our music assets with Saavn underlines our commitment to further boost the digital ecosystem and provide unlimited digital entertainment services to consumers over a strong uninterrupted network,” Reliance Jio director Akash Ambani said.
“We are delighted to announce this partnership with Saavn, and believe that their highly experienced management team will be instrumental in expanding Jio-Saavn to an extensive user base, thereby strengthening our leadership position in the Indian streaming market.”