Route Mobile: The SMS Empire That Connected the Digital World

Picture this: Mumbai, 2003. The dot-com bubble had just burst, leaving investors wary of anything digital. In a modest apartment, a young engineer named Rajdip Gupta sat hunched over a second-hand computer, coding through the night. He had confirmed that CPaaS was an area with several emerging opportunities, and started building Route Mobile, with just $2,000 (~Rs 1 lakh), as a bootstrapped company. Even the initial platform was made from scratch by Rajdip himself, at home, using a second-hand PC.

This wasn't Silicon Valley with its venture capital abundance. This was India, where the startup ecosystem barely existed. In 2004, there was no startup ecosystem evolved as what we are having today. During that time, the funding was not available, as easy as it is available now. And when Rajdip actually launched, started coding the entire platform in 2003, a few years back the entire dotcom boom was busted. People were reluctant to invest in any ideas.

Yet twenty years later, that $2,000 investment would transform into a company valued at over €1 billion, acquired by Belgian telecommunications giant Proximus for an initial INR 59,224 million (EUR 643.0 million) cash consideration, with the total shareholding of Proximus Opal in Route Mobile reaching 82.70%.

The story of Route Mobile isn't just another tech success narrative—it's the untold infrastructure play that powered the digital revolution in emerging markets, one SMS at a time.

Origins: The Bootstrap Gambit (2004-2010)

Route Mobile was started in Mumbai in May 2004 as a cloud communications platform provider for over the top (OTT) and mobile network operators (MNO). But the real story begins with a philosophy that would define the company's entire trajectory.

"You should build a product and try to be the first customer of your product," Rajdip would later reflect. This wasn't just startup wisdom—it was survival instinct. With no investors knocking and no safety net, Route Mobile had to be profitable from day one.

The breakthrough came faster than expected. The early profitability stemmed from their first customer, based in Dubai, who despite being offered a free trial was happy enough with the product to pay at the outset. This wasn't luck—it was validation that businesses desperately needed reliable messaging infrastructure in an increasingly mobile world.

By 2005, the company was ready to expand beyond its founder. Sandeep, a chartered accountant working at PwC, had been helping Route Mobile with accounting on weekends. Sandeep joined Route Mobile in 2005, he was working with PwC as a consultant with a chartered accountant. He used to come every Saturday to make sure invoices are properly managed, money that's coming in or not. He used to just work as a part time accountant during the weekends. After one year, when they realized there was potential and more people, he joined focusing more on finance and accounting side of the business. Rajdip would take technology and sales side of the business and they started hiring more people. They had their first office about 10 by 10, where four of them used to sit. They were paying rent of 8000 rupees that they could afford during that time.

The early partnerships were strategic rather than opportunistic. It partnered with companies including Idea Cellular, Lanka Bell, and Arab Financials Services for providing messaging services in India, Sri Lanka, Middle East and North Africa region. But the real validation came from unexpected quarters—marquee names such as Meta and Google also joined as partners in the early days.

What made Route Mobile different wasn't just technical capability—it was understanding the unique challenges of emerging markets. While Western companies built for markets with stable infrastructure and high smartphone penetration, Route Mobile built for reality: inconsistent connectivity, feature phones, and businesses that needed reliable communication at scale.

The team which built the entire story with Rajdip in 2004, they're still with him, and they're still having the same belief in his vision. This wasn't just employee retention—it was the foundation of a culture that would later create crorepatis out of office attendants.

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The A2P Messaging Revolution: Finding Product-Market Fit (2010-2017)

To understand Route Mobile's ascent, you need to understand the unsexy but essential world of A2P (Application-to-Person) messaging. Every time you receive an OTP, a banking alert, or a delivery notification, that's A2P messaging at work. It's the nervous system of the digital economy.

The market opportunity was staggering. In 2021, the global application-to-person (A2P) SMS market reached 45.93 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. The figure includes the revenues for SMS, RCS, and OTT business messaging formats for sectors including banking, ticketing, healthcare, content payment, advertising, and retail. Simply put, an A2P SMS is a message in which recipients are not expected to reply, which is frequently used by businesses in order to communicate with consumers.

Route Mobile positioned itself not as a simple SMS gateway but as a "Super Network"—a critical distinction. By establishing direct relationships with over 240 MNOs and four short messaging service centres hosted in various geographies across the globe, they were able to access more than 800 networks across the world, as of June 30, 2020.

The scale was breathtaking. In Fiscal 2020, the company's platform managed more than 30.31 billion billable transactions from clients and was used by more than 2,700 clients. To put that in perspective, that's roughly four messages for every person on Earth.

But volume alone doesn't build a business—margins do. Route Mobile's unit economics were compelling because they solved a fundamental problem: grey routes. Between 2020-2024, revenue leakage to grey routes remains unacceptably high, with a cumulative loss of $37.1 billion, or an annual average leakage of $7.69 billion. By offering legitimate, reliable routes with direct operator connections, Route Mobile could charge premium prices while still being cheaper than the potential losses from grey route fraud.

The company's growth wasn't just organic. Strategic acquisitions began reshaping the business. In May 2017, Route Mobile acquired Call 2 Connect, an ITES provider based out of India. But the game-changing move came later that year.

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Strategic Acquisitions: Building the Tech Stack (2017-2019)

September 2017 marked a pivotal moment in Route Mobile's evolution. Route Mobile Limited announced the acquisition of 365squared – a premier European headquartered SMS Monetisation Value Added Services brand.

365squared wasn't just another messaging company. 365squared are industry experts of the Managed SMS firewall concept. The Maltese-based private company addresses concerns related to 'protecting revenue leakage' for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) by tackling the unauthorised and grey A2P SMS by-pass. 365squared uses a combination of its in-house developed analytical tools, deep understanding of the A2P eco-system and 24/7 managed services to deliver tangible revenues to mobile operators worth millions of dollars.

This acquisition represented a fundamental strategic shift. Route Mobile wasn't just facilitating messages—it was now protecting the entire ecosystem. Rajdip Gupta commented: "SMS Firewall market will grow exponentially in coming few years and with 365squared on-board, Route Mobile will scale new heights. This partnership will augment our firewall service and will provide 365squared access to our telco relationships globally especially to those in Latin America and Africa. We also understand that 365squared offers one of the most exciting and unique value-propositions on the market and hence they will continue to operate with the existing brand name and under the existing management team".

The firewall business model was elegant in its simplicity but powerful in execution. Mobile operators were hemorrhaging revenues to grey routes—unauthorized paths that bypassed legitimate channels. 365squared's technology could identify, block, and monetize this traffic, turning a cost center into a profit center. One executive noted that across 3 mobile operators in Africa, Asia and Latin America, they saw an average immediate uplift in A2P SMS revenue in the order of 413% in the first year, rising to 1,425% in the second year.

Since Rajdip envisaged Route Mobile as a global company, he adopted an M&A strategy to bolster his international ambitions. This wasn't empire-building for its own sake—each acquisition added a crucial piece to the platform puzzle.

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The IPO: Timing the Perfect Storm (2020)

The year 2020 began with the world in lockdown, but for Route Mobile, it represented the perfect storm of opportunity. Digital transformation, forced by the pandemic, compressed five years of change into five months. Every business suddenly needed digital communication infrastructure.

The IPO opened on September 9, 2020, and closed on September 11, 2020. Route Mobile IPO was a main-board IPO of 1,71,42,856 equity shares of the face value of ₹10 aggregating up to ₹600.00 Crores. The issue was priced at ₹350 per share.

The market response was explosive. Route Mobile raised Rs 600 crore through the IPO. The IPO drew 73 times bids on the final day of bidding process. The issue attracted 89,23,41,080 bids. This was 73.29 times the total issue size of 1,21,73,912 shares.

On September 21, 2020, the listing day arrived. The IPO of Route Mobile was priced at Rs 350 per share and it got listed at a price of Rs 717 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), which was a 105 percent rise. The stock touched an intraday high of Rs 735, representing a 110% premium to the issue price.

But for Rajdip Gupta, the numbers weren't what mattered most. More than the listing, what reinvigorated Rajdip was that the IPO became a wealth-creation event for his employees, including office attendants. "An office attendant suddenly had Rs 3 crore in his bank account after the IPO. It was heartwarming," says Rajdip.

This wasn't just financial engineering—it was validation of a business model built over 16 years. The pandemic had accelerated digital adoption, and Route Mobile was perfectly positioned to capture this demand. According to Rajdip, Route Mobile processed more than 6.95 billion billable transactions through its cloud communications platform in the three months following the nationwide lockdown imposed in late March 2020 to contain the spread of coronavirus. In comparison, the platform managed more than 30.31 billion billable transactions in FY20.

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Post-IPO Expansion: The Latin America Play (2021-2023)

With public market capital and credibility, Route Mobile accelerated its global expansion. The Latin American market, with its massive unbanked population embracing digital services, presented an irresistible opportunity.

October 2021 brought the next major move. Route Mobile (UK), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Route Mobile, acquired Masivian S.A.S ("Masiv"), a cloud communication platform service provider, for $47.5 million.

Masivian wasn't just a geographic expansion—it was a capabilities play. Masiv operates in the LatAm market, with its differentiated and well-adapted cloud communication platform, security and data analytics that offers a comprehensive suite of communications, marketing, and AI-powered products. Masiv offers multichannel notification services through SMS, OTT business messaging, email, as well as voice, serving clients across Colombia and Peru.

Rajdipkumar Gupta explained: "As founders of one of the leading CPaaS players globally, a key target for us was to onboard a global partner to gain a bigger foothold in the Latin American region, and address the international traffic that we're yet to tap". The acquisition provided Route Mobile with an excellent near-shore talent pool and operational hub for supporting customers in the Americas.

The integration was swift and strategic. Masivian's founders became part of Route Mobile's leadership team, ensuring continuity while leveraging Route Mobile's global scale. The Latin American operation became a beachhead for serving not just local enterprises but also global OTTs looking to penetrate these high-growth markets.

Meanwhile, Route Mobile continued innovating on the product front. In 2023, Route Mobile announced the launch of TruSense, a digital identity and security suite that is critical to securing digital transactions through a reliable ecosystem, enabling businesses to authenticate the end user in a frictionless way. TruSense addresses security concerns with an identity and security framework that leverages AI/ML for real-time risk assessment, ensures a safe frictionless authentication without OTP, and facilitates seamless identity verification against authorized third-party data.

The company also launched Roubot, which lets you build chatbots for multiple channels using drag-and-drop flow builders. Roubot allows you to build, customize, and publish chatbots easily and quickly. Several pre-defined templates are provided by the industry, which can be easily customized as per the business's requirements. Connecting a predefined template to the brand's communication channels is all that is required. With a single click, you can publish and launch the chatbot.

By 2023, Route Mobile had evolved far beyond its SMS roots. It was now a full-stack CPaaS provider, offering everything from basic messaging to sophisticated AI-powered identity verification. The company was processing over 10.5 billion messages monthly, serving more than 3,000 enterprise customers globally.

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The Proximus Acquisition: Finding the Perfect Partner (2023-2024)

July 17, 2023, marked the beginning of Route Mobile's next chapter. Proximus Group signed a definitive agreement to acquire through Proximus Opal, a ∼58% interest in Route Mobile, a global company specialized in CPaaS services, listed on NSE and BSE in India with a market capitalization of EUR 1.1 billion. As part of the agreement, some of the founding shareholders of Route Mobile will reinvest in a minority stake in Proximus Opal, a subsidiary of the Proximus Group and the holding company of Telesign, Proximus' US-based affiliate. Building on the combined strengths of Route Mobile and Telesign, the Group is paving the way to become one of the worldwide leaders in the fields of digital communications (CPaaS) and digital identity (DI).

The initial deal structure was complex but strategic. Proximus signed a definitive agreement with the founding Route Mobile shareholders to acquire 57.56% of Route Mobile through Proximus Opal, for an initial INR 59,224 million (EUR 643.0 million) cash consideration, which corresponds to a price per share of INR 1,626.40. Some of the founding shareholders of Route Mobile subsequently committed to reinvest EUR 299.6 million in Proximus Opal.

Indian regulations triggered a mandatory tender offer for additional shares. The MTO process resulted in the acquisition of 24.99% shareholding in Route Mobile. The total cash consideration for this part of the operation amounts to INR 25,934 million (EUR 292.8 million). By May 2024, the MTO Stake, coupled with the shares acquired from the founding shareholders, brought the total shareholding of Proximus Opal in Route Mobile to 82.70%.

This wasn't just a financial transaction—it was a strategic masterstroke. The strategic acquisition of Route Mobile generates substantial scale, with an annual revenue around EUR 900 million for Route Mobile and Telesign combined. The synergies were compelling: Annual run-rate EBITDA synergies realized 3 years post-closing are expected to be at least EUR 90 million, which will be realized by both Route Mobile and Telesign.

The geographic complementarity was perfect. Route Mobile dominated in India, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Telesign was strong in North America and Europe. Together, they created a truly global platform. More importantly, their product portfolios were complementary rather than competitive—Route Mobile's strength in omnichannel messaging paired perfectly with Telesign's expertise in digital identity and fraud prevention.

Rajdip Gupta would continue as CEO of Route Mobile and head the global CPaaS business, while Telesign's CEO Joe Burton would lead the digital identity division. The founders weren't cashing out—they were doubling down, reinvesting nearly EUR 300 million back into Proximus Opal.

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Technology & Product Evolution

Route Mobile's technology evolution mirrors the broader transformation of enterprise communications. What began as simple SMS routing has evolved into a sophisticated platform leveraging AI, machine learning, and real-time analytics.

The SMS firewall business, inherited from the 365squared acquisition, exemplifies this evolution. Using machine learning algorithms, the platform can identify grey route traffic patterns in real-time, blocking fraudulent messages while ensuring legitimate traffic flows smoothly. This isn't just about protection—it's about monetization. By converting grey route traffic into legitimate, billable transactions, Route Mobile helps operators recover millions in lost revenue.

TruSense, launched in 2023, represents the next frontier. In an era where identity fraud costs businesses billions, TruSense provides frictionless authentication without traditional OTPs. Using device fingerprinting, behavioral analytics, and real-time risk scoring, it can verify identity with higher accuracy than traditional methods while reducing customer friction.

The Roubot platform demonstrates Route Mobile's understanding that messaging is evolving beyond simple notifications. Modern businesses need conversational interfaces that can handle complex interactions across multiple channels. Roubot's no-code approach democratizes chatbot creation, allowing businesses to deploy sophisticated conversational AI without extensive technical resources.

But perhaps the most important technological achievement is the platform's ability to handle scale. Processing over 30 billion transactions annually requires infrastructure that can handle massive spikes—think Black Friday sales or emergency alerts—without faltering. Route Mobile's distributed architecture, with data centers strategically located across continents, ensures redundancy and low latency.

The platform approach versus point solutions has been crucial to Route Mobile's success. While competitors often focus on specific channels or use cases, Route Mobile built a unified platform that handles everything from SMS to WhatsApp Business API to RCS messaging. This means enterprises can manage all their communication channels through a single interface, with unified analytics and billing.

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Playbook: Lessons from the Bootstrap-to-Buyout Journey

The Route Mobile story offers a masterclass in building a global technology business from emerging markets. Several lessons stand out:

Bootstrap Discipline Creates Lasting Culture: Starting with just $2,000 forced Route Mobile to be profitable from day one. This wasn't a constraint—it was a competitive advantage. While VC-funded competitors burned cash acquiring customers, Route Mobile had to deliver real value immediately. This discipline persisted even after the IPO, ensuring sustainable growth rather than growth at any cost.

Product-First Philosophy: Rajdip's principle of being your own first customer meant Route Mobile always built products that solved real problems. They didn't chase trendy technologies or pivot based on investor whims. Every feature, every acquisition, every expansion was driven by actual customer needs.

The Power of Patient Capital: Route Mobile waited 16 years before going public. This patience allowed them to build deep moats—direct operator relationships that took years to establish but were nearly impossible for competitors to replicate quickly. When they finally did IPO, it was from a position of strength, not desperation.

M&A as Capability Building: Each acquisition added specific capabilities rather than just revenue. 365squared brought firewall technology, Masivian provided Latin American presence and expertise. This surgical approach to M&A created a platform that was greater than the sum of its parts.

Creating Shared Prosperity: The IPO making crorepatis of office attendants wasn't just a feel-good story—it was strategic. Employees who own meaningful equity think like owners. They stay longer, work harder, and care more deeply about outcomes. "We exist because we have customers," observes the founder. "I attribute 100% of my success to my customers and my people".

Emerging Market Advantages: Building from India provided unexpected advantages. Lower costs allowed for patient building. The complexity of the Indian market—with its multiple languages, varied infrastructure, and diverse use cases—prepared Route Mobile for any market globally. If you can make it work in India, you can make it work anywhere.

When to Sell: The Proximus acquisition timing was masterful. Route Mobile sold not at peak hype but at peak strategic value. With Telesign, they could offer end-to-end solutions neither company could provide alone. The founders' reinvestment showed they believed the combined entity's best days were ahead.

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Analysis: The CPaaS Wars & Future Outlook

The CPaaS market has exploded from a niche telecommunications segment to a crucial enterprise infrastructure layer. Twilio, the industry's poster child, commands a market cap in the tens of billions. Vonage sold to Ericsson for $6.2 billion. Bandwidth went public at a multi-billion valuation. Yet Route Mobile's story is fundamentally different.

While Western CPaaS providers built for sophisticated markets with high ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), Route Mobile built for volume in emerging markets. This wasn't settling for less—it was recognizing that the next billion users would come from India, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. These markets demanded different solutions: multiple language support, ability to work with feature phones, and pricing models that worked for lower ARPU customers.

The India advantage extends beyond cost. India's digital public infrastructure—from Aadhaar to UPI—created a massive testbed for digital identity and payment solutions. Route Mobile's products, battle-tested in this environment, were inherently more robust and scalable than those designed for simpler use cases.

Competition remains fierce. Twilio's developer-first approach and extensive API ecosystem make it the default choice for many startups. Regional players like Africa's Talking and Latin America's Wavy (acquired by Sinch) have local expertise. Chinese players, backed by massive domestic markets, are expanding globally. Yet Route Mobile's combination of emerging market expertise, direct operator relationships, and now Proximus's backing creates a unique competitive position.

The AI revolution presents both opportunity and threat. Large language models could revolutionize customer communication, moving beyond templated messages to truly conversational interactions. Route Mobile's Roubot platform and integration with ChatGPT show they understand this shift. However, tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have massive AI advantages and could potentially disintermediate CPaaS providers.

Regulatory challenges loom large. Data localization requirements, privacy regulations like GDPR, and varying telecommunications rules across countries create complexity. Route Mobile's local presence in 22 countries provides an advantage here—they understand local regulations and have relationships with local regulators.

The bull case for Route Mobile/Proximus is compelling. The combined entity becomes the third-largest CPaaS provider globally by message volume. Synergies of EUR 90 million are likely conservative—cross-selling alone could drive significant growth. Emerging markets are still early in digital transformation. Enterprise messaging is shifting from notifications to conversations, expanding the addressable market. The digital identity market, where Telesign excels, is exploding as fraud increases.

The bear case cannot be ignored. WhatsApp, WeChat, and other OTT players could disintermediate traditional messaging. Economic downturns affect emerging markets disproportionately. Tech giants could leverage their AI advantages to offer superior solutions. Telecommunications is inherently a regulated industry, subject to political and policy risks. Integration challenges between Route Mobile and Telesign could delay synergy realization.

Yet the fundamental thesis remains strong. Every digital interaction—from ordering food to transferring money—requires secure, reliable communication infrastructure. Route Mobile has spent two decades building the pipes that make these interactions possible. With Proximus's backing and Telesign's complementary capabilities, they're positioned to capture value as billions more users come online.

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Recent News

As of October 2025, Route Mobile continues to evolve under Proximus ownership. The integration with Telesign proceeds on schedule, with early cross-selling wins validating the synergy thesis. The combined entity has secured several major enterprise contracts, leveraging Route Mobile's emerging market presence and Telesign's security capabilities.

The company has doubled down on AI and automation, with recent updates to both TruSense and Roubot incorporating advanced language models. These aren't just feature additions—they represent a fundamental shift in how enterprises think about customer communication.

Expansion continues in high-growth markets. Recent launches in Southeast Asia and Africa leverage Route Mobile's playbook of partnering with local operators while providing global enterprise clients with unified service. The company has also begun offering blockchain-based identity verification services, positioning itself for the next wave of digital transformation.

Financial performance remains strong, with the company maintaining its track record of profitable growth even as it invests heavily in new capabilities. The Proximus synergies are beginning to materialize, with operating margins expanding as the companies consolidate operations and leverage combined scale in supplier negotiations.

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Conclusion: The Infrastructure of Trust

Route Mobile's journey from a $2,000 bootstrap to a billion-euro acquisition is more than a business success story—it's a blueprint for building essential infrastructure in the digital age. While consumer apps capture headlines, companies like Route Mobile build the invisible rails that make digital commerce possible.

In emerging markets, where traditional infrastructure often leaps stages of development, Route Mobile provided the trust layer that allowed businesses and consumers to transact digitally. Every OTP delivered, every payment confirmed, every appointment reminder sent—these mundane interactions are the building blocks of digital economy.

The Proximus acquisition doesn't mark the end of Route Mobile's story but rather the beginning of a new chapter. As digital interactions become more complex, requiring not just delivery but authentication, conversation, and intelligence, Route Mobile's platform becomes even more critical.

Route Mobile currently has 1,500 employees operating in 22 countries and has been profitable from day one. From Rajdip Gupta coding alone in his Mumbai apartment to becoming part of a global telecommunications giant, Route Mobile proved that with the right vision, discipline, and patience, it's possible to build world-class technology companies from anywhere.

The lesson for entrepreneurs isn't just about building a successful company—it's about recognizing that the most valuable businesses often solve the most mundane problems at massive scale. In a world increasingly mediated by digital interactions, Route Mobile built the infrastructure of trust. And in doing so, they didn't just create value for shareholders—they enabled millions of businesses to serve billions of customers in the digital age.