US-based wireless service provider FreedomPop has raised $10m in an extension to its series B round that was backed by mobile network operator Axiata, TechCrunch reported on Thursday.
The extension also included funding from an unnamed US-based investor.
FreedomPop secured a $30m in the first tranche of the series B round in June 2015. That tranche was led by corporate-backed venture capital firm Partech Ventures and included VC firms DCM and Mangrove Capital.
FreedomPop operates a freemium mobile phone plan,which offers users 500 megabytes of data, 200 minutes of call time and unlimited text messages for free. Consumers may purchase additional data, minutes or features for a fee.
The investment by Axiata, which operates across Southeast Asia, will enable FreedomPop to offer its product in that market. The partners will launch the offering under either FreedomPop’s name or as a new brand that will be “powered by FreedomPop”.
The company is currently also piloting its offering in the UK, and hopes to officially launch there within the next month or two.
According to regulatory filings and press releases, FreedomPop had obtained $19.3m from DCM, Mangrove and Atomico ahead of the series B round.
Stephen Stokols, founder and chief executive of FreedomPop, considers the partnership with Axiata a blueprint for future expansion in Europe and the remainder of Asia.
Stokols said: “In some cases, major carriers are seeing this as a way to extend their footprint and reach beyond their network assets and in other cases, it is to cannibalise their own user base versus being cannibalised.”
The limited partners of Partech’s $227m growth fund include automotive company Renault, retail chain Carrefour, insurers CNP Assurances and AG2R La Mondiale, payment services provider Ingenico and state-backed Bpifrance.