Airwallex furthers global expansion with launch into North America

By Edlyn Cardoza

Airwallex, a FinTech platform, recently announced its launch in the US. This launch represents Airwallex’s expansion into North America as Airwallex continues its international growth momentum. U.S.-based businesses can now enjoy a full suite of products to support their cross-border payment needs in a fast, transparent, and secure way.

Airwallex’s entry into the U.S. supports its global growth strategy aimed at achieving its vision to become the global financial infrastructure for businesses to operate anywhere, anytime. Now, the company offers a business account which include cards, international collection & transfer and other value-add solutions for Small and Medium-sized businesses, and an API for larger enterprise businesses that require embedded payments and financial services. Founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2015, Airwallex is one of the fastest growing financial technology companies today, operating across 12 offices with a global team of over 900 employees.

“The idea behind Airwallex came nearly six years ago,” said Jack Zhang, Co-founder and CEO of Airwallex. “My co-founder and I loved coffee and started a small cafe in Melbourne. As small business owners, we quickly saw the pain points with global payments and the impact of high FX fees and banking costs when sourcing for supplies. We wanted to build out a better financial and payment solution for businesses operating across borders, and ensure they are empowered to grow.”

“Fast forward to where we are today, Airwallex’s tech platform provides businesses of all sizes with easy access to a robust global infrastructure, enabling them to grow their offerings and global operations. We power some of the leading tech-driven organizations around the world, and are excited to soon offer the same services to businesses in the U.S. As we grow, we will continue to scale our products and offerings to better serve the needs of businesses operating globally.”

Airwallex first established a presence in San Francisco in 2019 and has grown to a team of more than 30 today across product and engineering, legal, risk & compliance, partnerships and sales. Airwallex plans to continue to expand its U.S team over the coming months, as it looks to further strengthen its foothold in the market.

Airwallex’s market entry into the U.S. is supported by a partnership with domestic bank Evolve Bank & Trust, a technology-focused financial services organization and Banking-as-a-Service provider. In addition, Airwallex has been issued money transmitter licenses in various major states and is permitted to provide money services business in almost all the states across the US, including those that have traditionally been difficult to secure licenses, such as California, Texas, and Florida. With several local bank partnerships and licenses, Airwallex will progressively introduce its suite of products and services to businesses in the U.S, including multi-currency cards and an online payment acceptance solution that will allow businesses to collect payments from customers around the world.

To further support Airwallex’s global growth, San Francisco will also serve as one of Airwallex’s global engineering hubs alongside Melbourne, Sydney, Shanghai, and Amsterdam. The establishment of these hubs aims to further drive digital innovations and are focused on the research and development of new products and enhancement to strengthen Airwallex’s global infrastructure.

“This is an exciting moment for us as we look at ways to further support U.S. businesses that are looking to grow, both in the U.S. and internationally,” adds Zhang. “The U.S. is a major hub for technology innovation and is at the forefront of bringing traditional banking financial services into the new age. With our base in San Francisco, we are excited to be able to take part in that change and provide businesses in the U.S. with an infrastructure that can seamlessly handle their international payments and financial services needs.”