airalo

They disrupted physical SIM cards. Now, eSIMs may face a shake-up of their own, as a young startup tests if the market’s old rules still hold.

Airalo swings to a US$10.1 million profit in 2024, while Sequoia’s Alfred Lin highlights the rise of “experimental revenue” in the AI age.

While operating expenses grew between 2023 and 2024, revenue rose faster.

The investment values Airalo at over US$1 billion, making it the first unicorn in the eSIM sector.

To tap into the eSIM market’s billion-dollar potential, will Southeast Asian eSIM startups need to partner with or disrupt telcos?

The milestone comes less than a year after the Singapore-headquartered startup raised a US$60 million series B round.

The eSIM provider said monthly revenue has grown 20% in recent months, logging one million app downloads in the past quarter.

Airalo said the number of daily users on its platform has grown 15x since October 2019.

Erik Jonsson, co-founder and former managing director of Zalora Vietnam, will head Antler’s Vietnam unit and join the firm as a partner.

About 80% of startups in Surge 02 have come on board with co-investors and have raised more than US$45 million in Surge rounds.