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Braid has raised USD $38 million in a Series A round led by Octopus Ventures, with KPN Ventures joining as a strategic investor.
Formerly known as Next Communications, the company said it had not previously raised external capital and is already profitable and cash-flow positive.
Braid offers a platform that lets enterprises provide branded mobile connectivity through their own apps and services. Using a single API, businesses can connect to more than 600 carriers across more than 200 countries without becoming telecoms operators themselves.
The Hague-based company launched in 2023 and now serves nearly 90 enterprise customers across sectors including travel, financial technology, clubs and communities, and telecoms.
Embedded connectivity
Braid is targeting businesses that want to build mobile data offers directly into their products, from banks and airlines to travel groups and sports organisations. Its pitch is that brands can keep customers inside their own digital services rather than sending them elsewhere to buy connectivity.
Traditional routes into telecoms services often involve lengthy procurement, carrier negotiations and regulatory work before launch, Braid said. By contrast, it said a live trial on its platform takes three minutes and a branded launch can take as little as a week.
The funding comes as investors continue to back infrastructure businesses tied to digital customer services, particularly where telecoms functions can be embedded into consumer-facing apps. KPN Ventures' participation also gives Braid support from an established European telecoms group.
Before founding Braid, Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jignesh Dave worked in banking in the UK and South Africa, including at Lloyds, and later ran a mobile virtual network operator for seven years. He has described Braid as the infrastructure he wished had existed when he was trying to build that earlier business.
"I spent 18 months and half a million euros just to sell my first SIM card, and that is why Braid exists. After seven years running a mobile virtual network, I realised we weren't really selling SIM cards. We had built the infrastructure that makes connectivity accessible to everyone. 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. And when brands make connectivity part of their customer experience, they unlock something far more valuable: stronger relationships, greater loyalty and new revenue," said Jignesh Dave, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Braid.
The company said one travel business bundled a USD $3 SIM with data capped to WhatsApp into its bookings, then saw customers top up after connecting. According to Braid, each customer generated USD $22 to USD $23 in additional revenue.
Strategic backing
KPN Ventures invested through the corporate venture arm of Dutch telecoms operator KPN. Braid said the backing reflects a model designed to work with carriers rather than compete directly with them.
KPN linked the investment to its wholesale mobile operations and to its existing relationship with Braid as a connectivity partner.
"Connectivity is core to everything we do at KPN and, with KPN Wholesale, we are a very active player in the global sponsored roaming market," said Reinout van Ierschot, EVP of KPN Wholesale. "Braid has built an impressive platform enabling enterprises to easily embed connectivity into their products through a single API, reducing complexity and accelerating time-to-market. As Braid's connectivity partner, we support its next phase of growth. With access to more than 600 networks across 200-plus countries and a dedicated team focused on maintaining the quality of this global footprint, we provide the reach, expertise and reliability Braid needs to grow. Together, we can offer enterprise customers a seamless and outstanding connectivity experience worldwide."
Octopus Ventures led the round and described Braid as a business addressing a fragmented part of the telecoms market with a simpler software layer for enterprise customers.
"The best infrastructure businesses make something complex feel effortless. Jignesh and the Braid team have taken an industry built around long negotiations and fragmented systems and created a materially simpler way for businesses to embed connectivity into the products their customers already use. We believe Braid is defining a new category in embedded connectivity and has the team, technology and ambition to become the default infrastructure layer for businesses delivering connectivity to their customers," said Uthish Ranjan, Partner at Octopus Ventures.
Braid said the new capital will support international expansion, broader carrier coverage and further development of its platform as competition for embedded connectivity customers attracts more investment.