India's Jio invests in deep-tech startup Two PlatformsIndia's Jio invests in deep-tech startup Two Platforms

Jio Platforms, the parent company of Reliance Jio, India's largest service provider, has invested $15 million in Two Platforms, a Silicon Valley-based artificial reality company, for a 25% equity stake.

Two Platforms and Jio will together build products in AI, mixed realities and metaverse technologies.

The two companies will work together to accelerate the adoption of new technologies. Two Platforms was started by an Indian scientist and entrepreneur, Pranav Mistry, less than a year ago, in July 2021.

"Jio is foundational to India's digital transformation. We, at Two, are excited to partner with Jio to push the boundaries of AI and introduce applications of Artificial Reality to consumers and businesses at scale," said Pranav Mistry, CEO of Two Platforms.

Virtually there

Two is building interactive and immersive AI experiences. Its platform enables real-time AI voice and video calls, digital humans, immersive spaces and lifelike gaming.

The company is working on interactive AI technologies for both consumer and enterprise applications.

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"We are impressed with the strong experience and capabilities of the founding team at Two in the areas of AI/ML, AR, metaverse and Web 3.0. We look forward to working together with Two to help expedite development of new products in the areas of interactive AI, immersive gaming and metaverse," said Jio Platforms Director Akash Ambani in the press release. White & Case was the legal counsel for Jio for the transaction.

The operator was in the news recently over forming an alliance with the University of Oulu to work on 6G technology. Earlier, Jio had acquired US-based Radisys Corporation, which helped it in developing its own 5G stack.

Forming alliances

As part of preparing for 5G, Indian telcos are trying to gain new capabilities by forming alliances and acquiring stakes in startups.

For instance, Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest service provider, recently acquired a 25% stake in Bengaluru-based SD-WAN company Lavelle Networks.

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— Gagandeep Kaur, contributing editor, special to Light Reading