The $2,000 iPhone Problem Just Made This Unknown Fintech a Star

Glow Services Corp. has landed a $65 million equity injection that could turbocharge its next phase of expansion. The Miami-based phone financing fintechvalued at $325 million after the raisesecured its biggest backing yet from Apollo Global Management APO with a $35 million commitment, joined by Liberty Media's (LMACA) John Malone, who invested $10 million through his firm Silver Spur Capital. Citigroup also returned as an existing investor, adding $15 million to the round. Co-founders Andrew Cole and Christiaan Ross, both formerly with Asurion Corp., now have the capital to push Glow deeper into international markets and broaden its product pipeline.

Glow's model could rewrite how mobile operators handle phone sales. Instead of telecom giants like BT Group paying upfront for handsets from manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, Glow offers financing directly to consumers at checkoutallowing carriers to keep customers locked in without absorbing billions in handset debt. Through a strategic partnership, Apollo will help fund these loans, taking the financing burden off carrier balance sheets while operators continue managing billing and collections. With high-end smartphones now topping $2,000, Glow's platform positions itself at the sweet spot of rising device prices and tightening carrier balance sheets.

The funding round also brought in a slate of heavyweight telecom veterans, including former Virgin Media chairman James Mooney, ex-AT&T executive Glenn Lurie, and former Deutsche Telekom board member Niek Jan van Damme. Silver Spur's investor Cal Noreen called Glow a stable investment with strong growth potential, reflecting the growing view that handset financing could evolve into one of the few scalable growth levers left in mature telecom markets. For Malone and Apollo, the bet looks like a calculated play on the future of consumer credit embedded directly into the mobile ecosystem.