Start-ups
Fintech Giant Airwallex Hits $16B Valuation in New Funding Round
Payments fintech Airwallex has raised $460 million in fresh capital, lifting its valuation to $16 billion less than a year after its previous funding round valued the company at $12 billion.
Fintech platform Airwallex has raised US$460 million in a new round of funding, bringing its total value to US$16 billion and continuing a streak of rapid growth for one of Australia's biggest private financial technology companies.
The round was led by existing investor with participation from investors including Baillie Gifford, Hummingbird, QED Investors, T. Rowe Price, Hedosophia, Haun Ventures, Washington University in St. Louis and Amex Ventures.
The fresh capital will be use to advance its AI-powered finance and commerce solutions, geographic expansion and strategic acquisitions, the company said.
The investment follows the previous valuation of the company at US$12 billion less than a year ago, as investors remain interested in companies offering financial services for international transactions.
Global payments business keeps on growing
Founded in Melbourne in 2015 by Jack Zhang, Lucy Liu, Max Li and Xijing Dai, Airwallex provides businesses with financial tools for operating across international markets.
The platform features a platform that allows customers to send, receive, store and spend funds in various currencies, plus payment acceptance, corporate cards, expense management, billing and revenue management services.
In recent years, Airwallex has been scaling its operations beyond cross-border payments to a wider range of finance software.
The deal with Leapfin added to its financial automation capabilities, and the company has also dipped into the in-person payments space to expand its product range for business customers.
Currently, Airwallex is available in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Canada and the United States, catering to businesses that conduct cross-border payment and operations across various countries and regions.
Funding follows broader fintech investment recovery
The new investment is coming to the fintech sector in a period of renewed investment activity in the global sector, following a slow year of funding. Despite the downturn in the VC sector, industry data from CB Insights indicates that fintech has continued to receive a significant amount of funding in 2025, fueled by a demand for digital payments, embedded finance and business software.
The global payments revenue has surpassed US$2.4 trillion with digital payments and cross-border business payments continuing to grow, says the McKinsey Global Payments Report 2025.
The Melbourne-based company has been included in the list of the world's most valuable privately owned fintech companies due to its latest funding round as it continues to grow its global financial services network.
Source: AFR
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