Braid raises $38 million Series A to put mobile connectivity inside brands' apps
The profitable Dutch startup offers one API to more than 600 mobile carriers, so banks, airlines and other brands can offer their own SIM and eSIM data. It has never raised external money before.
Braid, a company from The Hague that lets enterprises launch their own branded mobile connectivity, has raised $38 million in a Series A round led by Octopus Ventures. According to the company's announcement of 29 October, KPN Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Dutch telecoms operator KPN, also took part.
The company was launched in 2023 and has never raised external capital before. It says it is profitable and cash-flow positive. With the round it also changes its name from Next Communications to Braid. EU-Startups puts the round at €34.13 million.
What Braid does
Becoming a connectivity provider has usually meant months of tenders, carrier negotiations lasting three to six months and regulatory filings before a single customer can be served. Braid replaces that with a single API that orchestrates more than 600 carriers across more than 200 countries, the company says.
Enterprises can embed SIM and eSIM connectivity directly into their own products through an API or SDK, or launch a fully branded storefront without engineering work, and without becoming a telecoms operator. Braid says a live trial takes three minutes and a branded mobile launch can take as little as a week.
The company gives three examples: an airline or travel agent that keeps a traveller connected from booking until they are home, a bank that rewards customers with mobile data, and a sports club whose fans stay connected when they follow the team abroad.
Customers and founders
Braid serves close to 90 enterprise customers, including major global fintech and travel brands, and works only with enterprises rather than consumers. According to EU-Startups, it was founded by Jignesh Dave, Vishal Dave and Mitesh Popat. Tech Funding News reports that Popat spent 18 years at Citi and later served as CFO of Flutterwave.
CEO Jignesh Dave previously worked in banking in the UK and South Africa, including at Lloyds, and then ran a mobile virtual network operator for seven years. That experience shaped the idea that the infrastructure behind connectivity, not the SIM card, was the real opportunity.
"I spent 18 months and half a million euros just to sell my first SIM card, and that is why Braid exists," Dave said in the announcement. "Amazon built AWS to power its own business and found it could power everyone else's, and it was the same for us. Today a business can start in three minutes."
Why the investors backed it
"The best infrastructure businesses make something complex feel effortless," said Uthish Ranjan, Partner at Octopus Ventures. He said Braid is defining a new category in embedded connectivity and could become the default infrastructure layer for businesses that deliver connectivity to their customers.
Reinout van Ierschot, EVP of KPN Wholesale, said KPN is Braid's connectivity partner and is very active in the global sponsored roaming market. He said the platform reduces complexity and speeds up time to market for enterprises that want to embed connectivity in their products.
Use of funds and competition
The money will go into international expansion, a deeper carrier network and more infrastructure to grow Braid's share of embedded connectivity. Tech Funding News points to competition from eSIM players such as Airalo and Roamless, and to banks that already offer eSIMs themselves. Dealroom also covered the round.
What it means for European founders and investors
Braid is a rare case of a European startup that reached profitability before taking any venture money and then raised a sizeable Series A on its own terms. For founders, it shows that a bootstrapped infrastructure business can still attract a top-tier lead investor once the numbers speak for themselves.
It also shows how the idea of embedded finance is spreading to other services. Just as payments moved inside apps a decade ago, connectivity is becoming a feature that brands can own. Fintechs are already moving this way, as our report on Monzo's launch in Spain and Revolut's UK personal loans shows. For more rounds like this, see the Funding section and our Q3 2026 European tech funding analysis.
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