Circles Global co-founder shares flourishing journey en route to potential IPO

“If I knew everything that I know today, I might have not started this company,” said Circles Global co-founder Rameez Ansar on the stage of this year’s Tech in Asia Conference. “[The journey] is 10x harder than I thought. But on the other hand, it’s 10x more meaningful.”

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

Ansar founded Circles Global in 2016 along with Abhishek Gupta and Adeel Najam. It has two main offerings: a digital telco service as well as Circles X, a software-as-a-service platform that enables companies to launch their own telco brand.

According to Ansar, Circles Global “is trending” toward a run rate of up to US$200 million in revenue. He added that by next year, half of its revenue would come from its Circles X business.

When he was asked about whether the company had become a unicorn, Ansar refused to comment. However, he said that he always tried to build a sustainable business, which is why Circles Global currently has a healthy gross margin and “never had conflict” regarding this aspect of the business.

US$2.5 billion SPAC deal on the pipeline?

Earlier this year, it was reported that Circles Global would merge with Bridgetown Holdings, a special purpose acquisition company owned by Peter Thiel and Richard Li. According to sources, the combined entity will go public in the US at a valuation of US$2.5 billion.

Ansar refused to comment on the rumor, but he thinks that all founders will at least think about going public at some point in their own startup journeys. According to him, there are three main reasons a company needs to go public: to provide liquidity for investors and employees, to raise more money, and to build the company’s public profile.

“For the first two reasons, we’re not in a rush about that. But I often think about the third reason when considering [the IPO],” Ansar said.

See also: Circles Life bets big on secret cash cow as other efforts fall short

A rocky start

Ansar shared that it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Circles Global. Two months before the launch date, two of its five key members left due to personal and other reasons.

At the same time, a big competitor seemed to know about the launch date and decided to roll out a similar service with the same name. Circles Global held the copyright for the name, but many stakeholders said that a legal battle was not worth it.

Finally, Ansar said that he decided to talk with his team and keep moving.

According to him, the main thing that founders need to do is to be clear on why you’re building the company. “And since the beginning, our mission is to solve the customer experience challenges in telco industry,” he said.

Right now, Circles Global operates in Taiwan, Australia, Indonesia, and Japan. The firm counts Warburg Pincus, Sequoia Capital, and EDBI as its investors.