Singapore Telco Circles.Life Eyes Expansion After Warburg Pincus Investment

Circles.Life, one of Singapore’s fastest-growing digital telco companies, is accelerating its growth and expansion into new markets after receiving substantial investment from global private equity giant Warburg Pincus.

The amount of the investment was not disclosed but Circles.Life said in an announcement that the funding, along with the investments from Sequoia, EDBI, and Founders Fund, makes it well-capitalized to embark on regional expansion.

Established in 2016, Circles.Life, which has operations across Singapore, Taiwan, and Australia, delivers customizable mobile services including voice, data, roaming, and international calling that users can manage through an app powered by an end-to-end fully digital tech stack.

“Circles.Life was built on a mission to give power back to the customers and digitize the global mobile services industry,” said Circles.Life co-founder Rameez Ansar.

The Singapore-headquartered mobile operator said it had over 5 percent market share in the city-state and was witnessing ‘strong momentum here’ in the city-state.

In June 2019, the digital mobile operator had raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round led by Singapore government-linked investor EDBI and Silicon Valley-based Founders Fund.

Saurabh Agarwal, managing director at Warburg Pincus, said the mobile market in the region had not adapted quickly enough to provide a seamless experience to its customers, creating a large white space for technology-enabled challengers.

“We see a tremendous growth opportunity for Circles.Life, particularly within the rapidly digitizing mobile market in the Asia Pacific region,” Agarwal said.

Jeffrey Perlman, managing director and head of Southeast Asia at Warburg Pincus, said the PE was impressed by the strong management team at Circles.Life and the company’s ability to innovate, gain market share, and achieve best-in-class customer satisfaction in a short period.

Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has more than US$58 billion in assets under management. It has a highly diversified active portfolio of more than 190 companies.