Before Airalo, there were tomatoes and potatoes. Ahmet Bahadir Özdemir supplied ships, and the people aboard kept asking him for something outside the grocery order: SIM cards. Seafarers crossed borders; their phone connections did not travel so gracefully. He built a physical roaming-SIM business. Then eSIM-capable iPhones arrived in 2018, and he saw what might happen to it. A customer could download the connection instead. In 2019, Özdemir and Abraham Burak founded Airalo. An irritating errand was becoming a software purchase.
- The product: prepaid travel connectivity, downloaded to a compatible device.
- The scale: more than 30 million customers reported in June 2026.
- The next move: sell through carriers, employers, and even airport shops.
A country in your pocket
Think about the first half-hour after landing. You need a map to find the hotel, a ride to reach it, perhaps a translation to explain where you are going. Each task assumes the internet is already there. Arranging that connection can become the first task of the trip. Airalo sells a way to do it beforehand.
Its app and website offer local, regional, and global eSIM packages. Pick the coverage, allowance, and duration; install the digital SIM; connect according to the package instructions. Installation can happen through the app, a QR code, or manual settings. Top-ups are available for supported packages. The useful result is ordinary: maps, messages, tickets, and a ride without hunting for a physical SIM.
The customers include holidaymakers, business travelers, and people working across borders. What they buy is prepaid mobile service. What makes the purchase attractive is having one place to arrange it. Airalo sits between network connectivity and the traveler, packaging access into something people can browse. Its expertise is in that combination of telecom relationships, digital provisioning, payments, and support.
Then the passengers disappeared
A travel business founded in 2019 had a nasty surprise waiting. “When the pandemic came, travel died overnight,” Burak recalled in an Antler interview. Airalo slowed hiring and watched demand grow more slowly. His account stresses the importance of financing and keeping spending lean enough to wait out the disruption.
That is the first serious crack in any tidy growth story here: the customer’s reason to buy suddenly vanished. A useful product still needs the circumstances that make it useful. Airalo could simplify crossing borders. It could not persuade governments to reopen them. Its survival depended on the less glamorous work of conserving resources until travel returned.
Customer milestones measure reach. They do not establish active users or revenue.
Invite the giants in
Airalo’s relationship with telecom companies is more interesting than a simple fight over roaming bills. Burak described deliberately approaching operators to participate. By its $60 million Series B in 2023, its backers included investment arms associated with e&, Orange, Liberty Global, Singtel, and Telefónica. Companies with a stake in the existing system could also have a stake in a new way of selling access.
The business expanded accordingly. In May 2024, alongside its ten-million-user announcement, Airalo launched a platform for businesses to buy, manage, and share eSIMs. Today Airalo Partners offers employee connectivity, resale, co-branding, and integrations. An employer can arrange data for traveling staff. A travel business can add connectivity to its customer’s purchase. Airalo earns through connectivity sales; partner economics depend on the arrangement.
The competitive distinction is the breadth of that storefront and its routes to customers. Travelers can buy for one destination or a longer itinerary; organizations can distribute the same kind of service through their own relationships. Those choices are useful reasons to consider Airalo. They do not establish that every package is cheaper or faster than every alternative.
For a buyer, the sensible comparison starts with the journey: which countries, how many days, how much data, and whether a phone number matters. A low headline price is less informative than the package that actually covers those needs.
Then came the money to push further. In July 2025, Airalo announced a $220 million investment at a valuation above $1 billion. CVC contributed $185 million, with Peak XV and Antler Elevate also participating. The stated uses included customer support, new products, and business connectivity. Those figures describe investment, rather than the cost of building or running the company.
The purchase can move closer to the moment someone needs a connection.Reading Airalo’s distribution strategy
Read the small print before takeoff
What does the traveler actually pay? At the October 2026 check, Airalo listed a seven-day United States unlimited package at US$25. Prices vary by destination and package. Compare the complete trip against a local operator, your carrier’s roaming offer, or another travel eSIM provider such as Holafly, Nomad, Saily, or Ubigi.
“Unlimited” deserves particular attention. Airalo’s default fair-use policy provides 3GB of high-speed data per day, then reduces speed to 1 Mbps for the remainder of the period. The allowance resets every 24 hours from activation; individual packages may specify a different threshold. That distinction matters much more to someone uploading video than to someone checking a train platform.
Hardware and coverage matter too. Your device must support eSIM and be network-unlocked. Check whether the package includes calls and texts or only data, and read its activation rules before departure. Network conditions still determine the connection. Someone needing consistently fast laptop tethering should examine the allowance carefully. Someone whose carrier already includes suitable roaming may have little reason to switch.
The next storefront is already there
Airalo’s 2026 deals make its direction tangible. A WHSmith North America rollout put it in 90 airport retail locations, with trained staff helping explain activation. An August Consumer Cellular partnership opened a co-branded portal to a stated 4.5 million subscribers. Digital service, familiar counter. Digital service, familiar carrier.
For another business copying this approach, the hard question is who controls the experience after checkout. A simple storefront still needs dependable suppliers and help when installation fails. Adding distribution also adds people whose promises must match the product. The airport assistant, the employer, and the carrier portal all need to explain the same package clearly. That makes support and accurate product information part of the offering, especially when customers are tired, abroad, and trying to make their first connection.
The lesson worth borrowing is specific: find a recurring chore, make the transaction easier, and work with businesses already present when the chore appears. Airalo’s fully remote team now spans more than 50 countries. Its storefront can travel too. For the passenger with a suitcase and a hotel address, the question remains pleasingly small: will my phone work when I get there?