The company also provides a white-label solution that enables any brand to act as a mobile operator. It already collaborates with Grupo Bimbo and other organisations in Mexico.
OXIO, a telecom-as-a-service (TAAS) platform that converts mobile data into blockchain-based digital assets, announced the closing of a $40 million Series B investment round led by ParaFi Capital.
According to OXIO CEO Nicolas Girard, the company offers a white-label product that enables any brand to create a mobile service and act as a mobile operator for end consumers or businesses.
As with Helium, GIANT, and others, OXIO is putting a crypto spin to non-finance applications related to bandwidth and connection. Notably, it is also collaborating with established brands.
Girard said the firm currently has 15 clients in Mexico, including Grupo Bimbo, the country’s largest bread manufacturer, and Rappi, the region’s premier food delivery app, which utilises OXIO to provide internet connectivity to its riders.
Ascend and Leydon parent firm Digital Currency Group also participated in the Series B fundraising round, which was led by Multicoin Capital, Monashees, Atlantico Capital, and FinTech Collective.
The funds will be used to accelerate OXIO’s growth in Mexico and to expand its network into the United States and Brazil, Girard said, adding that the company wants to increase its product and engineering teams in the United States and Mexico.
“The simplest way to think of the blockchain’s role is as a wireless data token, or as a method to harness wireless as an asset class,” Girard previously explained. “You’ve never traded wifi because no tool exists to address it,” he continued.
The company’s integrations with telco companies in the United States are “nearly complete,” Girard said last week, adding that the company is currently working on integrations in Brazil, a process that typically takes five months. According to Girard, current legislation in Brazil and Mexico require telecommunications or satellite operators to grant access to companies such as OXIO.
Mobile data prices must be reduced by 80 percent to ensure connectivity for all Latin Americans, Girar said. “We are at a standstill, and the only way out is to offer up access to infrastructure to companies like ours, in order to create new prospects and a new business model,” he continued.
OXIO raised $13 million in a Series A fundraising round headed by Brazilian venture capital firms Monashees and Atlantico Capital in November 2020. The firm has raised a total of $65 million to date.
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
