If you’ve travelled internationally in the last year or two, you’ve probably noticed something: roaming is finally starting to feel… normal?
Not cheap, necessarily, and definitely not perfect. But, it’s become normal in the sense that travellers are no longer automatically resigned to being ripped off the moment their phone connects to a foreign network.
And that’s largely thanks to the rapid rise of travel eSIMs.
Now, Telna, one of the biggest infrastructure players in the space, is making a major move to accelerate that trend even further, announcing a $100 million growth fund aimed specifically at travel eSIM brands, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and the new generation of “Super Apps” that are starting to treat connectivity as a core feature rather than an afterthought.
It’s a big investment, but it also reflects something bigger happening behind the scenes – the travel eSIM market isn’t just growing. It’s becoming a real industry category of its own.
Roaming Is Becoming an App Experience, Not a Telecom Product
For decades, roaming has been a painfully old-school part of global travel. It was expensive, awkward and often felt like a deliberately confusing system designed to make people give up and pay whatever the network demanded.
But, eSIMs changed the rules.
Instead of hunting for a physical SIM card or paying inflated carrier fees, travellers can now activate prepaid data packages directly through an app, often within minutes. It’s frictionless, it’s borderless and it’s exactly the kind of consumer-friendly innovation telecom has historically been bad at delivering.
What’s happening now is that travel eSIM companies are no longer just offering a convenient product for tourists. Many of them are starting to scale faster than traditional telecom models ever allowed. They’re carving out niches, building strong customer communities and, in some regions, becoming the most recognisable connectivity brands on the market.
Telna seems to have recognised that this isn’t a temporary trend. Rather, it’s a structural shift.
Why Telna’s $100M Fund Matters
Telna’s new growth fund is designed to back companies building digital-first eSIM products and services, whether they’re consumer-facing travel apps, regional MVNOs or larger platforms looking to integrate roaming into broader digital ecosystems.
And importantly, this isn’t just about funding startups in the traditional VC sense. Telna is positioning this as a mix of growth capital, partnership support and acquisition opportunities, meaning the fund is also about consolidating and scaling the wider ecosystem as it matures.
The logic is simple: more companies are entering the market, competition is heating up, and the winners will be the ones who can scale quickly while still offering a product that feels smooth, affordable and trustworthy.
The Real Opportunity: eSIM Brands as the “Application Layer”
One of the most interesting ideas behind this fund is the suggestion that travel eSIM MVNOs are becoming the application layer of connectivity in their regions.
That’s a big statement, but it does make sense.
Telecom infrastructure is still largely controlled by major operators, but the consumer relationship is increasingly shifting to apps. That’s where users discover products, compare packages, top up, troubleshoot and manage their accounts.
It’s similar to what happened in banking, where legacy institutions kept the underlying rails, while fintech companies built the experience people actually interact with.
In other words, the future of roaming may not be driven by the networks themselves, but by the software companies sitting on top of them.
And, that’s exactly the kind of market where startups thrive.
A Step Towards Super Apps and Regional Ecosystems
Telna’s fund isn’t only targeting travel connectivity providers. It’s also aimed at Super Apps and platforms that want to integrate eSIM services into broader digital experiences.
That could include loyalty programmes, co-branded partnerships, embedded roaming tools inside travel platforms or bundled services designed for specific regional markets.
It’s also a reminder that connectivity is increasingly becoming a gateway product. Once a company owns the customer relationship around something as essential as mobile data, it opens the door to a wider ecosystem – payments, travel services, insurance, subscriptions, local commerce and more.
This is why the Super App angle matters. It’s not just hype. It’s a logical evolution of how mobile-first businesses grow.
Telna Wants to Stay Behind the Scenes (But Still Win)
Telna isn’t trying to become the next big consumer travel eSIM brand. Instead, it’s doubling down on being the infrastructure layer powering the brands that do.
The company already claims it distributes millions of travel eSIMs each month and accounts for just under 5% of global roaming traffic, which is a meaningful number in a space that’s quickly becoming more competitive.
Throughout this evolution, Telna isn’t trying to become the consumer‑facing eSIM brand itself. Its strategy remains centred on powering the ecosystem behind the scenes.
According to Telna’s announcement on its Bridge Alliance partnership, CEO Gregory Gundelfinger said that “eSIM technology is efficient, cost‑effective and flexible,” and that it allows operators to eliminate physical SIM cards, provision services faster, and tailor connectivity plans to customers’ needs.
By embedding eSIM activation into APIs, mobile apps and digital touchpoints, Telna enables travel eSIM MVNOs, Super Apps and other digital innovators to focus on product differentiation, user experience and regional scale, while the platform handles the underlying telecom infrastructure that makes global digital roaming possible.
Telecom Is Starting to Behave Like SaaS
The bigger story here is that travel eSIMs are turning telecom into something that looks a lot more like software.
Instead of slow-moving carriers and long-term contracts, we’re seeing fast-scaling mobile brands driven by UX, performance marketing, app experience and customer retention strategies. They can launch quickly, expand into new markets rapidly and adjust their offering in real time.
That’s a very different pace compared to the traditional telecom playbook.
Telna’s new fund seems to be built on that understanding: this market is moving quickly, and the companies that win won’t necessarily be the biggest networks, but the smartest digital players.
The Travel eSIM Market Is Getting Serious
At its core, Telna’s $100 million investment is a signal that the travel eSIM sector has reached a new stage of maturity.
This isn’t just a convenience product for digital nomads anymore. It’s becoming an essential part of modern travel infrastructure, and increasingly, a competitive battleground where new consumer brands are emerging at speed.
And with Telna now putting serious money behind the ecosystem, it’s clear that the race to own the future of roaming is only just beginning.
This fund marks a pivotal step in unlocking the full potential of travel eSIMs, accelerating digital roaming adoption, and supporting the emergence of regional mobile innovators and Super Apps as the next generation of digital connectivity platforms.
For more details, please visit the Telna Growth Fund site.
