next-gen-telco
(2)
Popcorn
Popcorn is an AI-native, software-first telco that sells a single global phone plan - unlimited talk, text and data across 180+ countries with no roaming fees, delivered over eSIM for about $69 a month. Beyond connectivity, Popcorn layers AI on the line itself: screening calls, taking notes, and defending against deepfakes and SIM-swap fraud, while offering developer SDKs and APIs to add voice, messaging and phone numbers in a few lines of code. Founded in 2023 and based in New York, it argues telecom has barely changed in 25 years and rebuilds it as cloud software.
Neel Popat
Neel Popat is the CEO and co-founder of Popcorn, a software-first 'next-gen telco' that sells one global eSIM phone plan with unlimited talk, text, and data across 180+ countries and no roaming fees. A British-Indian former finance professional turned serial founder, he coded a viral message board at 13, studied mathematics at LSE, spent a decade inside investment funds, then built the crypto-investing app Donut through Entrepreneur First. When Donut's custody partner Genesis went bankrupt, Popat fought through the wind-down and returned 100% of user funds before channeling the lessons into Popcorn.