Braid Raises $38M From Octopus Ventures to Expand Embedded Connectivity

Braid, formerly known as Next Communications, has raised $38 million in a Series A funding round led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from KPN Ventures. The Hague-based company helps businesses integrate mobile data and SIM or eSIM connectivity into their existing products through a single API.

The funding will support international expansion, growth of its carrier network and further infrastructure development. Braid says it is already profitable and generates positive cash flow, making this its first external funding round.

Founded in 2023 by Jignesh Dave and Mitesh Popat, Braid serves nearly 90 enterprise customers across travel, financial technology, clubs and communities, and telecommunications. Its platform connects to more than 600 carriers in over 200 countries, allowing businesses to offer connectivity without building their own mobile network infrastructure.

From selling SIM cards to building connectivity infrastructure

Braid's story began with the challenges of entering the mobile connectivity industry. According to the source, Jignesh Dave faced nine consecutive days of rejection from a mobile operator's wholesale division. Selling his first branded SIM card eventually took 18 months and approximately €500,000.

Those early difficulties helped shape the company's longer-term direction. After seven years operating a mobile virtual network, Dave concluded that the underlying infrastructure could be more valuable as a service for other businesses than as a way to sell SIM cards directly.

He compared the opportunity to Amazon developing AWS infrastructure for its own operations before making it available to other businesses.

Braid now focuses on providing that infrastructure to enterprises that want to make connectivity part of their customer experience. Instead of negotiating separately with multiple mobile operators and managing complicated integrations, businesses can connect through the company's API.

How Braid's API works

Braid's platform connects applications and businesses to more than 600 carriers across over 200 countries. It supports SIM and eSIM connectivity, as well as branded storefronts through which businesses can offer mobile data services.

The company says businesses can start a live trial in as little as three minutes and launch a complete mobile offering within a week. These timelines are company-reported and may depend on the requirements of individual deployments.

The platform's potential applications extend beyond telecommunications businesses.

An airline or travel company could offer mobile data to customers alongside a booking. A bank could provide connectivity as an additional customer benefit. Clubs and communities could offer branded mobile services to members, while other organisations could integrate connectivity into their existing digital products.

Braid positions itself as an infrastructure platform rather than a direct connectivity provider for consumers. Its focus is helping enterprises add mobile services to products they already operate.

An experienced founding team

Dave co-founded Braid with Mitesh Popat in 2023. Popat spent 18 years at Citi, including serving as chief financial officer for the Middle East and Africa region. He later became CFO at African payments company Flutterwave before moving into a strategic adviser role.

The founders bring experience from mobile connectivity, financial services and payments. That combination is relevant to Braid's enterprise-focused strategy, which requires the platform to work across both telecommunications networks and businesses in other industries.

The company reports approximately 90 enterprise customers across travel, fintech, clubs and communities, and telecoms. Its customer base provides an early indication of the different business models that could incorporate embedded connectivity.

Competition in embedded connectivity

Braid operates in a market where businesses increasingly have options for integrating eSIM and mobile data services.

Airalo, founded in 2019, has more than 20 million users and reached a reported $1 billion valuation in July 2025. The company has raised almost $287 million, according to the source.

Roamless raised a $12 million Series A in December 2025, led by Rasmal Ventures, with plans to help airlines, travel agencies, financial institutions and superapps integrate connectivity.

Braid differentiates itself by focusing exclusively on enterprise customers. Rather than primarily selling connectivity directly to travellers, it enables other brands to incorporate mobile services into their own products.

KPN Wholesale executive vice president Reinout van Ierschot said Braid's platform reduces complexity and helps enterprises bring embedded connectivity products to market more quickly. Octopus Ventures partner Uthish Ranjan also highlighted the company's effort to simplify an industry traditionally characterised by fragmented systems and lengthy negotiations.

However, Braid faces an important commercial question: whether enterprises will pay a dedicated platform to provide connectivity or continue sourcing it through existing providers and offering it as a bundled service.

How Braid plans to use the $38 million

Braid intends to use the new funding to expand internationally, increase the reach of its carrier network and strengthen its infrastructure.

The opportunity is supported by the broader adoption of eSIM technology. Counterpoint Research forecasts that more than nine billion devices supporting eSIM and similar technology will ship between 2024 and 2030. By 2030, nearly 70% of cellular devices shipped are expected to support eSIM or iSIM technology, according to the forecast cited by the source.

These figures indicate a potential expansion in the underlying technology market, although device adoption does not automatically translate into demand for Braid's platform.

The company says it is profitable and has positive cash flow. If sustained, that position could give it flexibility in how quickly it expands. The latest funding provides additional resources to grow its network and enterprise presence without requiring it to establish a consumer-facing connectivity business.

What comes next for Braid

Braid's next challenge is converting the growth of eSIM technology into recurring enterprise demand. Its platform may reduce the complexity of integrating connectivity, but companies will still weigh the cost against existing providers, internal capabilities and the customer value of offering mobile data.

The company's ability to expand its enterprise customer base, retain existing clients and demonstrate the commercial benefits of embedded connectivity will be central to its next phase.

With $38 million from Octopus Ventures and KPN Ventures participating, Braid is positioning itself as infrastructure that lets other businesses offer mobile connectivity without building the underlying network themselves.