Business, now much more than ever before, is going digital, and today a startup that is creating a vertically integrated solution to meet the needs of banking is announcing a large fund to tap into that opportunity. Airwallex – which provides business services directly to merchants as well as through a set of APIs that power other companies’ fintech products – has raised $200 million, a series of E-round funding that valued Australian startups at $4 billion.
Lone Pine is leading the capital round, with new supporters G Squad and Vetamer Capital Management, and previous supporters 1835i Ventures (formerly ANGI), DST Global, Salesforce Ventures, and Sequoia Capital China.
The fund raises a total of $700 million from Airwallex – headquartered in Hong Kong and Melbourne, Australia – including $ 100 million injections that closed its Series D just six months ago. Airwallex will use the funds to continue investing in its products and technology, as well as to continue its geographical expansion and focus on some big business goals. The agency has begun to make some progress in Europe and the UK and it will be a big focus with the United States. CEO and co-founder Jack Zhang described Airwallex’s current date as a vertically integrated strategy in the fund’s rapid legacy and growing valuation.
There are two components to this. First, Airwallex has developed the entire infrastructure for its business banking services, which it offers directly to businesses, with an emphasis on small and medium-sized businesses. Second, it has bundled that infrastructure into a set of APIs that other companies may use to provide financial services directly to their consumers without having to construct those services themselves — a strategy known as “embedded finance.” Zhang told me, “We want to own the entire ecosystem.” “We aim to be the Apple of company finance,” says the CEO. So far, Airwallex’s strategy appears to be working. Revenues were up over 150 percent in the first half of 2021 compared to the same period the previous year, with the company processing more than US$20 billion for a doubled worldwide client portfolio. It powers financial services for other firms like GOAT, Papaya Global, and Stake via APIs, in addition to tens of thousands of SMEs.
