AI-driven lock screen content company Glance has raised $200 million from Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms Limited. This is the Series-D round that values the company at $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion post-money. Glance is owned by InMobi and has already raised funding from Google and Mithril Capital.
This funding will also be used to expand to U.S. and Latin American markets. It will also test new ways of content-driven commerce through live videos.
Glance delivers curated content to smartphones’ lock screens. Users don’t need to unlock the screen or open any apps. Glance also owns Roposo, a short video platform.
“This strategic investment from Reliance will lead to strong collaboration with Glance across devices, commerce, and gaming,” said Naveen Tewari, founder, and chief executive officer of the InMobi group. “Glance and Roposo have spawned a category of live entertainment plus live commerce via the lock screen which allows users to consume the internet very differently.”
Glance will now be integrated into Pragati OS, a custom OS made by Google for Jio devices. Jio smartphones will now be delivered lock screen content including personalized news, entertainment content, and live videos. Glance is already available in around 5% of smartphones sold in India with its partnership with brands including Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and Realme.
InMobi was founded by Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena, Amit Gupta, and Abhay Singhal back in 2007 under the name MKhoj and was rebranded as InMobi in 2008. It became India’s first startup that achieved Unicorn status in 2011.
It is interesting to see how Mukesh Ambani is buying stakes in growing consumer internet firms and service-related startups to make his company future-ready.
