Braid Raises €34.13Mn Series A to Help Businesses Launch Branded Mobile Services

London-based Octopus Ventures led the funding round. KPN Ventures, the investment arm of Dutch telecom operator KPN, also participated.

The company has also changed its name from Next Communications to Braid. Founded in 2023, this is Braid’s first external funding round since its launch.

“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,” Jignesh Dave, co-founder and CEO of Braid.

“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.

Headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, Braid was founded in 2023 by Jignesh Dave, Vishal Dave and Mitesh Popat. The company operates across India, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Following its rebrand from Next Communications, Braid says it now serves nearly 90 enterprise customers, including major global fintech and travel brands.

Before founding Braid, Jignesh Dave worked in the banking sector in the UK and South Africa, including at Lloyds. He later spent seven years building and running a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). This experience helped him understand the challenges businesses face when entering the mobile connectivity market.

Building his previous telecom business cost Dave €500,000 and took 18 months before the company sold its first SIM card. The experience taught him that the technology and infrastructure behind a connectivity service are more valuable than the SIM card itself. This idea became the foundation for Braid.

Braid provides a single API that connects businesses to more than 600 mobile carrier networks across over 200 countries. Its platform allows companies to add SIM and eSIM connectivity directly to their products or launch mobile services under their own brands. This means businesses can offer connectivity without having to become telecom operators themselves.

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