Jio Platforms Ltd and BYJU’s have been named in the 2021 Time100 Most Influential Companies list. This new list from TIME has been based upon its assessment of the companies “shaping our future”, and is an expansion of TIME’s iconic TIME100 franchise that highlights businesses making an extraordinary impact around the world.
The new list from TIME magazine has Jio Platforms Ltd amongst its INNOVATORS category for ‘Leading digital transformation in India’, while BYJUs has been included amongst the DISRUPTORS for ‘Expanding E Learning’.
The 100 most influential companies are placed in five categories of Pioneers, Innovators, Leaders, Titans and Disruptors.
About Jio Platforms Ltd, the listing notes: “Over the past few years, Reliance Industries, the Mumbai-based conglomerate, has built India’s largest 4G network by charging some of the lowest data rates in the world (less than 5¢ a month for 1 GB).
“Now leading investors are turning to Jio Platforms—the holding company for Reliance’s digital businesses—to reach its more than 410 million subscribers. Among them: Facebook, to develop a WhatsApp-based e-commerce platform, and Google, with which it is aiming to roll out low-cost 5G smartphones.
“Last year, Jio raised over $20 billion in capital, a testament to the value and potential of its rapidly growing user base.”
The listing of BYJU’s reads: “Byju Raveendran, the founder of Indian e-learning startupBYJU’S, knows how to press an advantage. As users of his company’s signature app nearly doubled to 80 million during the COVID-19 pandemic, he went on a spending spree, fueled by funding from investors like Tencent and BlackRock.
“The BYJU’S summer acquisition of WhiteHatJr, an app that teaches kids to code—along with the purchase of Silicon Valley educational-game maker Osmo in 2019—gives the company a foothold in the U.S. e-learning market. In April, the company announced plans to dramatically expand outside its home base in India, adding one-on-one lessons in the U.S., the U.K., Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil. BYJU’S also snapped up a leading Indian test-prep school for almost $1 billion.
“The explosive growth has turned BYJU’S into one of India’s most lucrative startups—increasing the company’s expected value to $15 billion, up from $5.5 billion in July 2019.”
Before we get on to sharing the complete list of 100 companies, here’s what TIME Magazine says about how it arrived at this list for 2021: “To assemble it, TIME solicited nominations across sectors including health care, entertainment, transportation, technology and more from our global network of editors and correspondents, as well as from industry experts. Then, we evaluated each one on key factors, including relevance, impact, innovation, leadership, ambition and success.
“The result is a diverse array of 100 institutions, from the tech startup engineering a smarter way to recycle to the cryptocurrency firm reimagining the future of money to the pharma titans creating the vaccines of tomorrow (and today). Together, these businesses—and the leaders who steer them—are helping to chart an essential path forward.”
So, a proud incident for India, thanks to two Indian companies – Jio Platforms Ltd and Byjus — that have been spearheading, respectively, digital transformation, and e-learning in India. It is a happy coincidence that the latter has been empowered and enabled by the former’s opening of of connectivity across the country at much lower, non-exploitative prices for data and cheaper mobile devices empowering the country.
Here’s the complete list of
PIONEERS
- Hello Sunshine
- Roblox
- Flutterwave
- HYBE
- Savage X Fenty
- Rad Power Bikes
- Bumble
- Darktrace
- Tilray
- TerraCycle
- Oatly
- Strava
- Beyond Meat
- Klutch Sports Group
- Headspace
- Rothy’s
LEADERS
- NBA
- Apple
- Delta
- Walgreens
- Pfizer and BioNTech
- Sony Group Corporation
- Mattel
- Nike
- Nubank
- World Wide Technology
- Maersk
- Mercado Libre
- CVS
- Home Depot
- Teladoc Health
- Equinor
- Mastercard
- Volkswagen
- Johnson & Johnson
- English Premier League
INNOVATORS
- Gro Intelligence
- Moderna
- Stripe
- Nintendo
- Netflix
- The Lego Group
- Zoom
- Epic Games
- Spotify
- DJI
- Jio Platforms Ltd.
- Flutter Entertainment
- Adidas
- Ikea
- Nvidia
- TikTok
- Duolingo
- Farfetch
- BYD Co. Ltd.
- Yum China
- Zillow
- Orsted
TITANS
- General Motors
- Alibaba
- Disney
- Samsung
- Microsoft
- FedEx
- Softbank
- Tencent
- Walmart
- Coinbase
- BP
- Unilever
- Amazon
- PayPal
- AT&T
- Procter & Gamble
- UPS
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
DISRUPTORS
- Illumina
- Huawei
- Shopify
- Tesla Inc.
- OnlyFans
- Airbnb
- Clearview AI
- Clubhouse
- Nextdoor
- SpaceX
- NextEra Energy
- Peloton
- Robinhood
- DoorDash
- Digital Currency Group
- BYJU’S
- Lime
- GoFundMe
- DiDiChuxing
- Coursera