Reliance Industries arm has acquired substantial stake in media start-up New Emerging World of Journalism (NEWJ) with an initial investment of ₹10.3 million. “As initial tranche, RIIHL (Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited) has subscribed to 30,000 equity shares and 125 compulsory convertible debentures for total cash aggregating to ₹10.3 million and consequently NEWJ has become subsidiary of RIIHL and the company,” RIL said in a late regulatory filing on Tuesday.
NEWJ is a tech-media start-up focused on curating and producing video content for the smartphone-obsessed young Indians.
According to sources, RIIHL has acquired majority stake in NEWJ.
“The recent exponential growth of the video content market provides a huge opportunity for innovative visual storytelling in India. The company intends to fill this demand for quality content in the social and digital media space. The venture was founded by a team of young entrepreneurs led by Shalabh Upadhyay,” RIL said.
NEWJ will harness this synergy with a data-driven and tech-focused approach in creating a distributed content model, it said.