Reliance Industries Ltd has acquired Tesseract Imaging Pvt. Ltd, a firm that produces software and hardware for augmented, virtual and mixed reality – the entity is the latest in a startup buying spree as the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate aims to become a tech powerhouse.
According to a report by Inc42 citing a filing with the ministry of corporate affairs, Reliance acquired a 92.7% stake in the company in May.
Tesseract founder and chief executive Kshitij Marwah said the company would continue to work independently following its acquisition by Reliance, according to the report.
VCCircle has reached out to Reliance on the reported acquisition and will update the story accordingly.
At its recent annual general meeting, Reliance had announced Holoboard, its augmented reality platform developed in partnership with Tesseract.
The energy-to-electronics conglomerates showcased uses for Holoboard at the AGM, including for shopping, education and entertainment.
Tesseract develops other products such as Quark 360 VR, a mobile snap-on attachment, the Methane 360-3D Platform, which provides indoor VR walkthroughs, and Presence MR, a mixed reality editing and sharing platform, according to its website.
RIL’s acquisition spree
The reported acquisition of a majority stake in Tesseract is the latest such move by RIL. The group has steadily increased its focus to new technologies and digital content since the launch of Jio, its mobile network operator company. At the AGM, the company also announced the launch of Jio Fiber, its high-speed broadband internet service.
Last month, the RIL-controlled Haptik Inc., an artificial intelligence-based conversational platform, acqui-hired Los Angeles-based conversational AI startup Convrg Technologies Inc. to expand its business in North America.
The acqui-hire transaction came barely months after Reliance, through wholly owned unit Reliance Jio Digital Services Ltd, acquired an 87% stake in Haptik for a total of $100 million.
In March, RIL agreed to acquire an 83% majority stake in Mumbai-based hyperlocal delivery platform Grab. Separately, the group said that it would also acquire an 82% majority stake in Bengaluru-based software solutions firm C-Square by making a cash investment of Rs 82.04 crore (around $11.56 million then).
