Los Angeles-based mobile start-up FreedomPop is looking to expand to new international markets, and it just got a huge infusion of cash to help with that goal.
The company on Wednesday launched of a new global hotspot and SIM. The hotspot "aggregates cellular networks from across the world to give users a single seamless data connection," FreedomPop said.
It's initially available for those in the U.S. and U.K., offering free data (after your initial purcase of the device) in 25 countries, including the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Czech Republic. FreedomPop plans to expand coverage to more than 40 countries before the end of the year, including parts of Asia and Latin America.
The global hotspot is available now for a launch price of $49.99 (it will eventually go up to $99.99), and the global SIM is $10. FreedomPop plans to remotely update the SIM as it adds new countries to its global coverage.
The company's free global plan offers 200MB of data in any of the supported countries, and can be used with any connected device or smartphone. That's not a lot of data, but might work for occasional mobile users. FreedomPop is banking that you'll need additional data, which will set you back $10 for 500MB.
Meanwhile, FreedomPop raised $50 million to "fuel continued growth" of its free mobile service and expand to markets in Europe, Asia, and South America. The news comes after FreedomPop closed $30 million in financing six months ago, or $109 million in total.
"This new financing not only validates our capabilities, but it also ensures that FreedomPop has the capital required to become a top 10 global service provider," FreedomPop COO and co-founder Steven Sesar said in a statement. "The financing also supports our Global network launch, which is an exciting way to give consumers free Internet access across the world and eliminate roaming costs no matter where they are."