{"slug": "why-flexiroam-believes-its-next-chapter-has-arrived-as-global-partnerships-grow", "title": "Why FlexiRoam believes its next chapter has arrived as global partnerships grow", "summary": "FlexiRoam (ASX:FRX) has delivered its first profitable and cash-generative year since listing, with founder Jefrey Ong returning as CEO to lead the company's turnaround. The company now serves about 80% of payment market players in Malaysia, with IoT accounting for roughly 10% of its business, and has expanded into eSIMs and AI-powered services like its AI eSIM Agent on WhatsApp.", "body_md": "# Why FlexiRoam believes its next chapter has arrived as global partnerships grow\n\n**FlexiRoam’s founder returns to drive turnaround****Recurring revenue powers first profit****Global brands open new growth channels**\n\n*FlexiRoam has survived years of telco disruption. **Now founder Jefrey Ong is back at the helm, the company has delivered its first profitable and cash-generative year since listing, and global partnerships are strengthening its enterprise strategy.*\n\nIn 2012, Jefrey Ong had a simple idea: stop travellers coming home to a monstrous roaming bill.\n\nThe software engineer turned founder and CEO built a way for customers to answer calls overseas more cheaply, initially targeting Malaysian business travellers.\n\nRaising money was rather less straightforward.\n\n“I’ve pitched to almost like 127 investors before I raised my first round of funding,” Ong told Stockhead.\n\nThe believers eventually came from Perth. They backed the Malaysian startup on the condition that it later list in Australia, setting [ FlexiRoam (ASX:FRX)](https://stockhead.com.au/company/flexiroam-frx/) on the road to its 2015 ASX debut.\n\n“It’s primarily because there were Australians who believed in us enough to take a risk on a Malaysian startup with ambitions to build a global telco business.”\n\nWhat began with that single use case has spent more than a decade adapting to whatever the telecom industry threw at it.\n\n## From sticker SIMs to eSIMs\n\nWhen WhatsApp made internet calls free and data became essential, FlexiRoam shifted from voice to mobile data.\n\nIt first sold physical travel SIMs, then developed a thin “sticker SIM” that sat on top of a customer’s existing card and effectively turned a single-SIM phone into a dual-SIM device.\n\nAs smartphones evolved again, [FlexiRoam moved to eSIMs](https://brands.flexiroam.ai) – digital SIMs that can be installed without swapping a physical card.\n\nFlexiRoam survived several generations of telecom disruption.\n\nAs Ong put it: “We’ve seen BlackBerry come and go. We’ve seen Nokia come and go. And we’ve seen Skype come and go.”\n\nThe biggest shock came in 2020. FlexiRoam had been approaching profitability when COVID grounded aircraft around the world and almost zeroed its travel revenue.\n\n“That crisis actually almost killed us as a company,” Ong recalled.\n\nBut it also forced FlexiRoam to ask what else its connectivity could do. The answer was the Internet of Things, or IoT, connecting machines rather than travellers.\n\nToday, its SIMs and eSIMs can sit inside payment terminals, EV chargers, scooters, aircraft equipment and other connected devices.\n\nOng said FlexiRoam now serves about 80% of the payment market players in Malaysia, while IoT accounts for roughly 10% of its business.\n\n“So we created a non-human connectivity market segment, a machine-to-machine segment where connectivity is no longer just powering travellers, but also devices,” he said.\n\n## The asset-light telco model\n\nFlexiRoam is best understood as an asset-light global connectivity platform.\n\nIt doesn’t build mobile towers. Instead, it connects with carriers and wholesalers around the world, then uses its own orchestration layer to choose networks based on coverage, service quality and price.\n\nIt packages that access into eSIM and physical SIM products used by travellers and businesses across more than 190 countries through more than 600 carrier partners.\n\nIts other asset is data accumulated over more than a decade – where customers travel, how much data they use and how networks perform.\n\nThat helps FlexiRoam price products and design offers for large partners.\n\nAI sits above that connectivity rather than replacing it.\n\nFlexiRoam’s AI eSIM Agent operates inside WhatsApp, allowing a traveller to choose a plan, activate an eSIM and seek help without downloading another app. It can also be white-labelled for a bank, airline or insurer.\n\nFor a partner, the important bit is speed.\n\nA branded connectivity offer that once required months of technical integration can potentially be launched with far less engineering and support overhead.\n\n“And you don’t need to hire customer care, because the eSIM agent can speak 70 languages and work 24/7,” Ong said.\n\n## Why the turnaround is happening now\n\nOng stepped away as CEO after establishing the IoT business in 2021. FlexiRoam’s subsequent strategy leaned heavily on spending to capture direct-to-consumer travel customers as borders reopened.\n\nHe was asked to return in late 2024 and officially resumed work in 2025.\n\nHis diagnosis was blunt: a microcap could not indefinitely fund a land grab against much larger consumer brands.\n\n“We can’t just keep raising money, burning cash to grow,” he explained.\n\nThe reset for the company centred on what FlexiRoam already did well: its technology and its relationships with major brands.\n\nInstead of paying to acquire travellers one at a time, FlexiRoam started embedding connectivity inside partners that already owned large customer bases, making customer acquisition cheaper.\n\nMastercard is the flagship example.\n\nFlexiRoam is now distributed through 418 banks, 1,270 card programs and 78 countries, giving eligible cardholders access to mobile roaming data paid for by their bank.\n\nBut despite those numbers, Ong believes the relationship remains in its early stages.\n\n“We are just scratching the surface of what could potentially scale up with Mastercard, to more banks and more types of credit cards.”\n\n## The partner list is getting harder to ignore\n\nFlexiRoam’s CFO Grant Wong also sees more runway inside that relationship.\n\nFlexiRoam is active with Mastercard across every region except the US and Latin America, which together represent about 25% of Mastercard cards on issue. Discussions about expansion are active, although no deal has been announced.\n\n“If that were to drop, then that would be a significant catalyst for growth for us,” Wong said.\n\nTune Protect takes the same model into travel insurance.\n\nUnder a two-year agreement, FlexiRoam data is included with eligible Preset policies and activated through the WhatsApp agent.\n\nFees rise with policy sales, while the relationship includes a framework for future upselling and cross selling.\n\nEtihad Airways adds more heavyweight validation to FlexiRoam’s enterprise strategy.\n\nUnder a two-year master agreement, FlexiRoam supplies recurring connectivity for Etihad’s staff, aircraft operational data and pilots’ iPads across more than 125 countries. Passenger or loyalty connectivity could be added later.\n\nThe company has also signed a three-year agreement to connect payment terminals for an established Australian payments group.\n\nA separate non-binding MoU with an unnamed global telco, which serves a majority of the Fortune 500, could open another enterprise channel if it becomes a definitive agreement.\n\n## The numbers finally match the story\n\nThe strategy is beginning to show through in the financials.\n\nIn FY26, FlexiRoam recorded its first full year statutory profit since listing, an unaudited $0.4 million, along with record underlying EBITDA of $2.2 million.\n\nNet operating cash flow reached a record $2.7 million, while cash more than doubled to $3.5 million, without raising capital or drawing new debt.\n\nMost importantly for the quality of the business, recurring revenue rose from 39% to 55% of annual revenue and reached 66% in the June quarter.\n\n“That’s the base I want to see get bigger,” said Wong.\n\n“It’s contracted rather than transactional, it spans both travel and non-travel applications, and it’s anchored by global brands like Mastercard and Etihad.”\n\nThe financial improvement also gives FlexiRoam more room to pursue growth without returning to its previous burn-and-grow strategy.\n\n“We’re in the strongest financial position we’ve been in. That gives us a stronger base from which to pursue our growth plans than we’ve ever had before. That discipline stays as we look towards growth.”\n\nThere are still execution risks, but this is a different FlexiRoam from the one trying to buy growth one traveller at a time.\n\nIt has its founder back, a lower cost channel strategy, and a growing recurring revenue base.\n\nIf FlexiRoam can keep turning blue-chip relationships into contracted revenue, the company that spent years surviving disruption may finally be positioned to benefit from it.\n\n**Now listen to this: Long Shortz with FlexiRoam: How AI and major partnerships are driving free cash flow**\n\n*This article was developed in collaboration with FlexiRoam, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decision.*\n\n## Related Topics\n\n### UNLOCK INSIGHTS\n\nDiscover the untold stories of emerging ASX stocks.\n\nDaily news and expert analysis, it's free to subscribe.\n\nBy proceeding, you confirm you understand that we handle personal information in accordance with our\n[Privacy Policy](https://stockhead.com.au/privacy-policy/).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-flexiroam-believes-its-next-chapter-has-arrived-as-global-partnerships-grow", "canonical_source": "https://stockhead.com.au/tech/why-flexiroam-believes-its-next-chapter-has-arrived-as-global-partnerships-grow/", "published_at": "2026-08-13 20:30:56+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-13 20:43:09.000157+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-agents"], "entities": ["FlexiRoam", "Jefrey Ong", "ASX", "Stockhead", "WhatsApp"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-flexiroam-believes-its-next-chapter-has-arrived-as-global-partnerships-grow", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-flexiroam-believes-its-next-chapter-has-arrived-as-global-partnerships-grow.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-flexiroam-believes-its-next-chapter-has-arrived-as-global-partnerships-grow.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-flexiroam-believes-its-next-chapter-has-arrived-as-global-partnerships-grow.jsonld"}}