mobile
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Spark New Zealand Is Learning What to Let Go
The former Telecom has quit sports streaming and sold control of its data centres. Its next test is turning a narrower focus into better connections for New Zealanders.
Optimum built faster internet. Now it has to make customers stay.
Fiber is growing. Mobile is growing. The broadband base is shrinking. Inside Optimum’s effort to turn a better network into a business customers keep.
Telkom waited nine years for this turn
South Africa’s former telephone monopoly has found growth in the network beneath the apps. Its fibre recovery reveals the cost of replacing a business while millions of customers still depend on it.
Spectrum’s Big Bet: Make the Cable Bundle Useful Again
The cable bundle did not disappear. Spectrum is rebuilding it around broadband, WiFi, mobile and streaming - and betting that one connected household is worth more than four separate subscriptions.
Millicom (Tigo)
Millicom, operating under its Tigo brand, is a Luxembourg-headquartered telecommunications and digital services group that connects more than 46 million customers across nine Latin American markets with mobile, fiber-cable broadband, pay TV, and Tigo Money mobile financial services. Listed on Nasdaq under the ticker TIGO, the company describes its purpose as building the digital highways that connect people, improve lives, and develop communities.
Verizon
Verizon Communications is one of the largest telecommunications carriers in the United States, delivering wireless service, fiber and broadband internet, and managed enterprise networking to consumers, businesses, and government. Formed in 2000 from the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, the company runs one of the country's most extensive 5G and fiber-optic networks and reported roughly $138 billion in revenue in 2025.
Coffee Meets Bagel
Coffee Meets Bagel is a relationship-focused dating app founded by Korean-American sisters Arum, Dawoon, and Soo Kang. Built on the idea that quality beats quantity, it serves curated daily matches rather than infinite swipes - aimed at people who want commitment, not entertainment.
Joy
Joy is an all-in-one wedding planning platform that helps couples build custom wedding websites, manage registries with zero fees, coordinate guests, and stream virtual events. Founded in 2016 by three former Microsoft and Adobe engineers, Joy has grown to serve hundreds of thousands of couples worldwide with a free-to-use model, 600+ website templates, and a universal registry that pulls from any online retailer. Backed by General Catalyst and Sound Ventures, Joy has raised over $108M and is expanding beyond weddings into all major life milestones.
Winnie
Winnie is a San Francisco-based childcare marketplace that connects millions of parents with licensed daycare centers, preschools, and early education providers across the United States. Founded in 2016 by Sara Mauskopf and Anne Halsall - two former Google and Postmates engineers who were also parents - Winnie has grown from a local San Francisco app into a national platform covering 200,000+ licensed providers in over 7,000 cities. The platform combines comprehensive data (tuition costs, licensing status, inspection reports, availability) with community reviews and a SaaS layer for providers called Winnie Pro. Ranked #177 on the 2023 Inc. 5000 list and #1 in Consumer Services, Winnie sits at the intersection of a 500-billion-dollar childcare crisis and a generation of parents who expect the same search experience for daycares that they get for restaurants.
ZeeMee
ZeeMee is a higher education technology platform that bridges the gap between college-bound students and institutions through authentic community and behavioral intelligence. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, ZeeMee gives students a social space to showcase their personalities beyond transcripts while giving colleges AI-powered insights that predict enrollment intent with up to 98% accuracy. With 2.6M+ active student users, 300+ institutional partners, and a 4.7-star app rating, ZeeMee has quietly become one of the most influential platforms in college enrollment - helping students find roommates, discover campus culture, and connect with admissions teams before ever setting foot on campus.
zennya health
Zennya Health is a Philippine-based on-demand home healthcare platform that dispatches nurses, doctors, and wellness professionals directly to patients' homes, offices, and hotels. Founded in 2015 and powered by AI-guided care protocols, Zennya has completed over 600,000 service visits across Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, making professional medical care as easy to book as a rideshare.
x1
x1 is the world's most powerful AI app studio, built for iOS. It replaces chaotic AI demo generators with a structured, end-to-end system that takes builders from raw idea to a production-ready App Store launch - generating native Swift and Xcode code, not throwaway prototypes. With modular studios for product design, branding, onboarding, monetization, and growth, x1 is what happens when someone finally takes AI-assisted app development seriously.
YouLearn
YouLearn is an AI-powered personalized tutoring platform built by students, for students. Founded by three college friends frustrated with outdated lecture videos and generic AI tools, YouLearn transforms any learning material - PDFs, YouTube videos, lecture slides, even photos - into concise notes, adaptive quizzes, and an interactive AI tutor. With 2M+ users globally, $770K ARR, and backing from Y Combinator's Spring 2025 batch, YouLearn is building what they call a modern-day Aristotle: a lifelong AI tutor that grows alongside each student.
ZeroSettle
ZeroSettle is a drop-in SDK that lets mobile app developers skip Apple's 30% cut on in-app purchases by switching users to direct billing - charging just 5% + $0.50 per transaction instead. Built by two former Apple software engineers and backed by Y Combinator (W26), ZeroSettle arrived at the exact moment the Epic v. Apple ruling cracked open a $150B+ market. Setup takes 15 minutes, and developers get instant Stripe payouts, built-in tax compliance across 190+ countries, and smart conversion flows to migrate existing subscribers - all without touching App Store rules.