OXIO Calls On $12M Series A To Unbundle Mobile Telecom Infrastructure

OXIO is putting enterprise customers in control of their wireless experiences through its mobile carrier-as-a-service platform, BrandVNO. The New York-based company raised $12 million in Series A funding to expand its program in Latin America and the United States in 2021.

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Monashees and Atlantico Capital led the round and were joined by FinTech Collective and Multicoin Capital. The new funding gives OXIO just under $20 million in total funding since the company’s inception in 2018, Nicolas Girard, co-founder and CEO of OXIO, told Crunchbase News.

OXIO’s platform is rebuilding mobile networks by blending the wireless infrastructure of many carriers and then offering the network via a cloud-based application programming interface.

“We enjoy all of the benefits of being a mobile operator, like providing much better service and learning about users,” Girard said. “We are also taking the user information, using data science and turning it into actionable items.”

The company started in Mexico, where mobile users consume just over 2 gigabytes a month on average. This is on par with much of Latin America. In contrast, the average American consumes 2.5 times that, Girard said.

In addition, connection speeds are slower and the average cost is $4 per user in Mexico, versus $75 in the United States. E-commerce is also not as prominent, and apps not as used, so there is opportunity to drive more of that and help with customer engagement.

“Mexico is a good first market for us because of the cost of connectivity related to living wages,” he added. “That’s compared to the U.S. market, where connectivity is the most expensive in the world, the buying power is also high.”

The new funding will help scale the business, meet demand from new customers, and expand next year into Brazil and the U.S., where OXIO is working on partnerships with large players wanting to reinvent wireless, Girard said.

In the past year, the company grew from 20 to nearly 50 staff members, which included rounding out several leadership positions. In addition, OXIO has a goal to get 1 million recurring users in Mexico in the next 18 months.

“We will be working on executing on the large contracts we have in Mexico,” Girard added. “We have seen enthusiasm for the product, and while it took time to understand the marketing and see how it has evolved, we now have four large customers and are mapping our expansion into other markets.”

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias