Payments company Airwallex raises USD 80 mln of Series B funds

Founded in 2015, the backers of its latest round include Chinese Internet services giant Tencent, investment company Sequoia China, Hillhouse, Horizons Ventures, Central Capital Ventura, and Square Peg.

The startup previously received USD 3 million in a pre-Series A investment round led by Gobi Partners, USD 13 million in a Series A round from Tencent and Sequoia, and an additional USD 6 million in a Series A+ round with Square Peg Capital.

Currently, its flagship product is a foreign exchange engine that allows businesses to secure a 24-hour fixed rate, which reduces the volatility of market fluctuations.

Enterprises will also get access to wholesale comparable rates. Airwallex also provides its clients with the ability to choose same-day payments and select currency pairings, and move their money in and out of 50 countries.

At the moment, its customers span across various sectors: banks and financial corporations, international online commerce outlets, online travel agents, education; logistics, e-marketing, and social networking.

One use case would be an e-commerce vendor selling in a Chinese marketplace, for example, to a random buyer in Indonesia. Since they are dealing with different currencies, the company allows a fixed foreign exchange rate that will appease both buyer and seller with a sense of transparency.

For reference, there are around 130 banks in Indonesia, there are only four clearing organisations each covering around 30 to 40 banks. Due to that, financial companies must join all of them to meet the needs of their customers, and thus, Airwallex has built up a sizeable global clearing network to save companies the trouble of joining multiple clearing houses.

Going forward, the company will look to strengthen its grip on Southeast Asia, with a hiring strategy underway in Singapore, having added product and business development roles in the island nation the last few months.

Meanwhile, Airwallex is also applying for a virtual banking license in Hong Kong, alongside many other companies looking to operate as an online financial institution.