Glance, InMobi's AI-powered lock-screen platform, announced on Monday that it has reached an agreement with Reliance Industries' Jio Platforms Limited to raise USD 200 million in its Series D fundraising round.
The start-up has also formed a partnership with Reliance Retail to provide Glance's 'lock-screen platform' to JioPhone Next smartphones.
Glance's valuation will jump to USD 2 billion as a result of the latest funding round. The firm had raised USD 145 million from Google and current investor Mithril Capital in December 2020, making it one of the fastest start-ups to attain the coveted unicorn status.
Jio’s proposed investment aims to enhance Glance’s launch in several countries like the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and Russia. The company plans to use the fresh funds to expand the business globally and develop the world’s largest live content and commerce ecosystem on the lock screen.
Furthermore, strategic collaborations between itself, Glance, and Jio across devices, commerce, content, and the gaming ecosystem are expected as a result of its latest partnership with Reliance Retail.
Roposo and Reliance Retail will also form one of the partnerships, with the latter being able to use the former’s live commerce platform of 30 million user base.
Naveen Tewari, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of InMobi Group stated that the strategic nature of the alliance that truly lets the business scale and go deep in India makes them excited. Glance will be part of the Pragati OS, which is being developed in collaboration with Jio and Google.
Notably, Glance's lock screen technology is currently installed on over 400 million devices across Asia. The firm has almost 190 million users in Asia, with 163 million of them in India, where the users spend an average of 25 minutes each day on Glance. Jio Platforms and Google are also planning to roll out around 100 million handsets in the Indian markets soon.
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