Home-bred telecom startup Wiom raises Rs 140 crore in Series A, led by RTP Global

Delhi-based telecom and technology startup Wiom on Thursday said it has raised Rs 140 crore ($17 million) in a Series A round led by RTP Global. YourNest and Omidyar Network India also participated in the round, along with Global Brain, Blume Founders Fund, Alteria Capital, Stride Ventures, Stride One and 9 Unicorns.

“Wiom will now focus on expanding its footprint to cities throughout India while investing in high-quality talent and distributed delivery architecture,” the startup said in a statement.

Wiom aims to democratise access to affordable internet by leveraging the PM-WANI framework, which aims to provide affordable internet access to 500 million Indians over the next five years.

Due to this framework, Wiom’s customers can get affordable and unlimited internet starting at a mere Rs 10.

In 18 months, Wiom said it has achieved a user base of over 3 lakhs in Delhi, and expects to reach more than 15 crore users in the next five years.

In April 2022, Wiom secured seed funding of Rs 30 crores from YourNest, 9Unicorns and, a global tech giant. The funding round also witnessed the participation of a “few renowned angel investors” along with existing investors Omidyar Network India and Auxano.

“Air, Water, Food and Internet are the new essentials of modern life. Every individual in our country must be able to afford 24/7 unlimited Internet,” said Satyam Darmora, founder of Wiom. “We are confident of becoming the largest contributor towards the country’s target of 50 million PM-WANI hotspots across the country.”

“With the home broadband penetration in the country at a meagre 10% odd; we believe Wiom is uniquely positioned to capture this opportunity. They have innovated across the value chain and are seeing tremendous traction already,” said Nishit Garg, Partner, RTP Global.

“Wiom’s innovative use of PM-WANI has been able to deliver democratised internet access to customers. We truly believe that they will be successful in their endeavour to fulfil the 50 million hotspot mission under PM-WANI in the near future,” said Sunil Goyal, Managing Director, YourNest.

“We remain firm believers in Wiom’s vision to provide affordable, reliable, and ubiquitous internet access to the next half billion through the proliferation of wired home broadband across India. Empowered by the PM WANI model, Wiom’s success can help accelerate the adoption of high-speed internet for millions of households and boost the digital evolution of our country,” said Aditya Misra, Director, Omidyar Network India.