Airwallex secures $200m in Series E, raises valuation to $4bn

Hong Kong-headquartered global payments unicorn Airwallex announced raising $200 million in its Series E funding round, which raises the company’s overall valuation to about $4 billion

The latest investment, which was led by US investment manager Lone Pine Capital, brings the company’s total funds raised to date to over $700 million, according to the announcement.

Other investors that participated in the funding round include G Squared and Vetamer Capital Management as well existing investors 1835i Ventures, DST Global, and Salesforce Ventures.

Established in 2015, Airwallex has built a financial infrastructure and platform to help businesses manage online payments, treasury, and payout globally, without the constraints of the traditional financial system.

The business operates with a tea of almost 1,000 employees across 20 locations globally.

The latest investment will support Airwallex’s global expansion and enable the company to accelerate multiple product development initiatives across its five engineering hubs, grow its sales and commercial teams, and increase its breadth of offerings for SMEs and larger enterprises operating in the digital economy.

“This additional capital enables us to scale our presence in North America, UK, Europe, and other new markets including the Middle East, South America, and Southeast Asia,” said Airwallex co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang.

“From the start, our vision has been to build a global financial operating system that will allow modern businesses to operate without borders,” adds Zhang.

The company claims to have seen significant business growth in the last year, recording a year-over-year revenue growth of nearly 150% for the first half of 2021, and processing more than $20 billion for a global client portfolio that has quadrupled in size, serving innovative global
businesses such as GOAT, Papaya Global, and Stake.

“Airwallex has a clear competitive advantage in the digital payments market,” said David Craver, Managing Director at Lone Pine Capital.

Recently, Airwallex secured a money services business license from Malaysia’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia. The license marks the company’s entry into the Southeast Asia region.