Warburg Pincus backs Singapore's Circles.Life
Warburg Pincus has invested an undisclosed sum in Circles.Life, a Singapore-based digital-only telecom operator.
Circles.Life merely referred to the deal as “substantial.” The company previously closed two funding rounds in 2019 – also of undisclosed size – from Sequoia Capital India and EDBI, the investment arm of Singapore’s Economic Development Board, and Founders Fund, respectively, according to AVCJ Research.
Circles.Life was founded in 2016 by Rameez Ansar, previously of VC firm TechCube8 and Temasek Holdings, ex-Bain Capital and Standard Chartered Private Equity executive Abhishek Gupta, and Adeel Najam, formerly of Starhub and Frost & Sullivan. The company provides personalized, cloud-based digital telecommunications services such as no-contract, data-focused mobile plans.
It claims to have achieved a 5% market share in Singapore and launched services in Taiwan last June. The company’s proprietary technology stack, Circles-X, allows it to launch new services in weeks rather than years and expand into new markets in much the same way as other technology companies launch apps in different geographies.
Circles.Life will use the fresh funding to accelerate its growth in existing markets and enter new ones. The company also has a presence in Australia through a partnership with Optus. Additional plans involve expanding its digital services offering beyond telecommunications.
"We see a tremendous growth opportunity for Circles.Life, particularly within the rapidly digitizing mobile market in the Asia Pacific. The industry has not adapted quickly enough to provide a seamless experience to its customers in this new age, creating a large white space for technology-enabled challengers,” said Saurabh Agarwal, a managing director at Warburg Pincus, in a statement.
Circles.Life is not the only Singapore-headquartered cloud-based telecommunications platform to receive private equity funding. MyRepublic, which offers broadband, mobile and business-focused networking solutions, has raised more than $150 million since inception. It operates in Indonesia, New Zealand, and Australia as well as Singapore.
Warburg Pincus invests in Asia through its global flagship funds as well as companion funds dedicated to certain geographies and strategies. The firm’s latest China vehicle – which officially includes Southeast Asia for this vintage – closed at $4.25 billion last June.
Southeast Asia portfolio companies include Vietnam Technological & Commercial Joint Stock Bank, shopping mall operator Vincom Retail, fintech platform Momo, ride-hailing and local services giant Go-Jek, tax reporting business OnlinePajak, shopping mall developer NWP Retail, ARA Asset Management, and visual technology specialist Trax.
More on Southeast Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.