Braid Raises $38 Million Series A After Bootstrapping Since 2023

Braid has raised $38 million in Series A financing led by Octopus Ventures — the first outside money the enterprise connectivity startup has taken since launching in 2023. KPN Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Dutch telecom operator KPN, also joined the round.

The deal stands out for what came before it. Braid, headquartered in the Netherlands, reports it is profitable and cash-flow positive. It serves close to 90 enterprise customers, including major global fintech and travel brands. The company plans to spend the capital on international expansion, a stronger carrier network and further development of the infrastructure behind embedded mobile connectivity.

Why did the founder build Braid?

Jignesh Dave founded the company, previously named Next Communications, in 2023. His background spans banking and telecommunications. He worked in banking in the United Kingdom and South Africa, including a stint at Lloyds, then founded and ran a mobile virtual network operator for seven years.

That operator experience shaped the product. Dave saw procurement procedures, regulatory requirements and carrier negotiations that could stretch three to six months. The opportunity he identified was infrastructure other businesses could use without building their own telecommunications operations.

Dave, Founder and CEO of Braid, said: "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."

What does the platform actually do?

Braid runs a connectivity orchestration platform. It connects businesses to more than 600 carriers across over 200 countries through a single application programming interface. Enterprises can embed SIM and eSIM connectivity into existing applications using APIs or software development kits. The platform also supports fully branded storefronts that require no dedicated engineering work.

Speed is the selling point. According to the company, a live trial can begin within three minutes, and a branded connectivity service can launch in as little as one week. The technology targets businesses that want to integrate mobile services into customer offerings without becoming telecommunications operators themselves.

Where does the money go next?

Braid's technology has applications across travel, financial services and sports. Travel businesses can attach connectivity to flight bookings. Banks can fold it into customer reward programmes. Sports organisations can deliver mobile services to supporters travelling internationally. These arrangements may help enterprises create additional revenue while keeping customer relationships in-house.

The KPN connection matters commercially as well as symbolically. Reinout van Ierschot, Executive Vice President of Wholesale at KPN, said Braid's platform enables enterprises to embed connectivity through a single API, reducing implementation complexity and accelerating time to market.

What does the round signal?

A profitable, cash-flow positive company raising its first round at Series A size is unusual in a market where most startups take seed capital long before revenue. Braid inverted that sequence: it built the product, signed close to 90 enterprise customers and reached positive cash flow on its own funds, then raised $38 million to scale.

The AWS comparison in Dave's quote frames the ambition precisely — infrastructure built for one's own use, then sold to everyone else. With Octopus Ventures and KPN Ventures now on the register, Braid plans to expand internationally, deepen carrier relationships and keep building out its enterprise connectivity infrastructure.