Visionary Broadband

About Visionary Broadband

In 1994, in a rural Wyoming community, Jeremy Malli and two other founders started Visionary Broadband with a simple goal: get their community online. They began with just six modems and a $20,000 loan, initially serving 60 dial-up customers. This humble start was the foundation of a company focused on connecting places others wouldn't, earning them the early label of "ankle biters" by competitors. The company's journey was one of constant adaptation. Brian Worthen joined in 2001, eventually becoming CEO, and helped steer the company through multiple technological shifts. Visionary embraced change, pivoting from dial-up to become a key provider of broadband, and later, fiber-optic internet, across the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains. Their strategy was to tackle the hard-to-reach markets often overlooked by larger players, becoming the first broadband provider in numerous rural towns. A pivotal moment arrived in June 2022, when Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR made a strategic investment, acquiring a majority stake. This infusion of capital was designed to accelerate Visionary's rollout of high-speed fiber networks across Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana. Rather than an exit, this was a power-up, allowing Visionary to aggressively pursue growth through infrastructure builds and a series of acquisitions, including Mountain Broadband and MTWeb in early 2025. Today, Visionary continues to focus on its original mission, leveraging major funding and grants to bridge the digital divide in the American West.