Circles Life’s breakthrough: building a digital telco SaaS platform

When Circles Life started out as a digital telco in 2016, a digital-first telco was an innovative concept. However, competition quickly caught up: At least 14 mobile virtual network operators are providing similar services in Singapore as of June 2021, according to Tech in Asia data.

Kudos to Circles Life, though. It continues to innovate by consistently testing the waters in several areas. In November 2018, it launched an events platform called Discover as part of its ethos and efforts to constantly innovate. At one point, the startup also got into food delivery and considered getting a digital banking license.

Circles Life co-founder Rameez Ansar / Photo credit: Tech in Asia

The company does have one breakthrough: Circles-X, the world’s first cloud-native, digital telco platform created for operators by operators. But as Southeast Asia’s tech community rushes into opportunities in ecommerce and fintech, it is easy to miss out on Circles Life’s B2B innovation.

Circles-X is what I call a cloud-based operating system for the new-age telco. But how did a startup with the DNA of a B2C come across this unfilled gap?

I’m glad to be hosting Circles Life co-founder Rameez Ansar at the upcoming Tech in Asia Conference 2022 in Singapore. He will share more on stage at the event, which will be held at Marina Bay Sands. (Note: Tech in Asia subscribers can claim a free General Pass to the event, which also gives them access to our exclusive Subscribers Lounge at the venue).

Rameez’s session will be on Wednesday, September 21, at 1:50 p.m. SGT. Apart from discussing Circles-X, my latest drinks session with him confirmed that I’ll be asking questions about revenue, profitability, and the rumored SPAC as well as his inner motivations and the biggest challenges he’s faced in his founder journey.

His response? “Let’s make this memorable.”

😂 See you.

Further reading:

• 💼 Jan 2022: Circles Life’s ESOP breaks new ground. But is there a trade-off?
• 💰 Dec 2020: Circles Life bets big on secret cash cow as other efforts fall short
• 🦄 Feb 2020: Warburg Pincus backing pushes Singapore’s Circles Life to near-unicorn status
• 📈 May 2019: Circles Life survived a crisis. It’s now looking to redefine the telco business
• 👶 May 2016: New telco launches in Singapore: no 2-year plans, no need to visit a store – ever