Weex
Is a Virtual Mobile Operator.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
| N/A | $3.9m | Series A | |
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Weex operates as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in Mexico, specifically targeting the youth and millennial demographic. Founded in 2015 by Ricardo Suárez and John Cooper, the company emerged from the Coca-Cola Founders program, which provided initial seed capital to address a gap in the market for flexible mobile services. The founders identified that young, prepaying users in Mexico had limited control over their mobile data consumption, often deactivating data to manage costs.
The core of Weex's business is a prepaid, contract-free mobile service that allows for deep personalization. Operating on Telefónica's Movistar network infrastructure, it provides 4G LTE and 3G coverage. The company's business model is centered on a mobile application that empowers users to construct their own mobile plans. Customers can choose the specific amount of data and voice minutes they need and can also purchase unlimited usage for specific applications like Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube for time periods ranging from one hour to 30 days. This micro-bundling strategy provides transparency and cost control, a key differentiator from the pre-set packages offered by traditional carriers.
In 2017, Weex expanded its portfolio into the fintech sector with the launch of "Weex Wallet," a service offering a MasterCard-backed virtual prepaid card for online purchases and a physical card for offline transactions. This initiative was designed to provide young people, who may lack access to traditional banking, with a way to subscribe to digital services. The wallet featured free peer-to-peer transfers and bill-splitting functionalities. Later that year, the company structurally divided into "Weex Mobile" for telecommunications and "Weex Wallet" for financial products. In November 2019, Weex Wallet was spun off and rebranded as Mibo. The mobile division, Weex Mobile, was acquired by the New York-based Yonder Media Mobile in August 2019, with plans to rebrand the service to "Yo" in early 2020. The fintech division was not part of this acquisition.
Keywords: MVNO, fintech, mobile payments, telecommunications, prepaid mobile, youth market, plan customization, Weex Wallet, Mexico, micro-bundling