Firsty, a startup that wants to eradicate soaring roaming bills, has raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding.
The Amsterdam-based company, founded by a pair of former Adyen staffers, offers free limited data to traveling users for things like messaging, email, and online calling through an app. Travelers can upgrade at a cost of 2 euros per day for unlimited data that can be used on more bandwidth-intensive tasks.
Firsty integrates with regional telecom providers and automatically connects users with an eSim to the best available network based on location.
“The majority of people don’t have a mobile connection outside Europe, and when using your usual provider, it can be around 60 times more expensive,” Firsty cofounder Vince Vissers told Business Insider.
“Typically, you’d look for a wifi spot to buy a sim card, but we wanted to bring the network to customers.”
Firsty has raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding, led by former senior executives at dutch telecoms company KPN and the former head of marketing at Uber and N26, Patrick Stal.
“2023 was a hard year for funding, but this market is in need of this disruption,” Firsty cofounder Gauthier Thierens said.
“ESim technology is exciting, and very few customers are aware of it yet, but the market will grow rapidly, and that resonated with investors.”
The funding will go towards doing user research as the company looks to launch its app in debut markets, such as Europe and the US, later this month. Additional costs will be on marketing and hiring, although Firsty wants to retain a lean team.
Check out Firsty’s pre-seed funding pitch deck below:
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