Airwallex is expanding beyond cross-border payments, placing artificial intelligence at the centre of its next phase of growth as businesses look for more automated ways to manage money, bookkeeping and transactions.
The Australia-founded fintech company has introduced T:0, an automated bookkeeping system designed to handle a company’s financial operations, and Airi, an AI-powered consumer wallet intended to simplify online purchases through one-click checkout.
Airwallex president Lucy Liu compares T:0 to an assisted-driving system, explaining that people remain responsible for oversight even as the technology performs much of the work independently.
The strategy reflects a broader shift across financial technology, where companies are adapting to changing business models, digital commerce and growing demand for AI-driven services.
$320 million funding round lifts Airwallex valuation to $11 billion
Airwallex secured $320 million in a Series H funding round in late June, taking its valuation to $11 billion. The investment was led by returning backer Addition, with participation from Baillie Gifford, T. Rowe Price, Amex Ventures and Washington University in St. Louis.
The latest valuation represents an increase from the $8 billion valuation recorded in December, when the company raised a further $330 million in an Addition-led round.
Chief executive Jack Zhang said the new capital would support the company’s ambitions in autonomous finance, agentic commerce and the infrastructure needed to power these developments.
Liu described the fundraising as the result of ongoing discussions with existing investors, adding that the company wanted sufficient financial resources to accelerate its expansion plans.
The funding comes as Airwallex seeks to establish itself as more than a payments provider, with ambitions to offer a wider range of financial services through a single platform.
More than 675,000 businesses use the fintech platform
Founded in Melbourne more than a decade ago, Airwallex was established to help businesses transfer money internationally without the difficulties associated with conventional cross-border financial services.
The idea emerged from the challenges its founders, Zhang and Max Li, encountered in running a coffee shop that imported products from overseas.
The company has since grown to serve more than 675,000 businesses and reports annualised run-rate revenue exceeding $1 billion.
Although Liu declined to disclose detailed profitability figures, she said Airwallex was EBITDA-positive and maintained a healthy gross margin.
Its expansion has also taken the company into new markets, including the United States, South Korea, Mexico and Brazil. In Mexico, the business secured a payments licence through its acquisition of MexPago.
Expansion has also been driven by existing customers seeking to operate internationally. According to Liu, companies entering one market often create opportunities to serve businesses looking to expand in the opposite direction.
Airwallex’s proposition centres on bringing banking, payments, expense management and treasury services together, helping companies conduct international operations through one system.
US expansion comes amid a changing venture capital market
Airwallex’s fundraising activity comes against the backdrop of improving venture capital investment across Asia, following several years of weaker funding conditions.
Figures from KPMG showed that venture-backed businesses across Asia raised $50.8 billion in the second quarter, the strongest quarterly result since the final quarter of 2021.
China accounted for $35.1 billion of that total, with significant investments directed towards artificial intelligence and hardware. The four largest Asian deals during the quarter involved Chinese AI companies DeepSeek, ByteDance, StepFun and Moonshot AI.
Despite the rebound, Asian venture investment remained well below the United States, where startups attracted $145 billion during the same period.
Investors are also increasingly directing money towards established private companies with more substantial operating records rather than backing earlier-stage ventures without proven business models.
Liu said investors wanted evidence of success before committing capital, suggesting that companies needed to demonstrate their ability to execute and grow.
This trend is contributing to larger private funding rounds and longer periods outside public markets. Data company Databricks, for example, has pursued a funding round that would value it at $188 billion.
Airwallex delays IPO timing despite plans to be ready
Although Airwallex is preparing for a possible stock market listing, Liu said the company still intends to be ready for an initial public offering by the end of 2026.
However, she stopped short of committing to a listing date, citing uncertainty in financial markets and the complexity of current conditions.
The company is among a growing number of large technology businesses that can continue raising private capital without immediately turning to public investors.
Payments giant Stripe, founded in 2010 and headquartered in Dublin, has similarly remained private despite its scale and prominence in the fintech industry.
Recent major offerings and anticipated listings from companies such as SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic have also added to the competitive environment for institutional investor attention.
For Airwallex, being IPO-ready does not necessarily mean proceeding with a listing immediately. The timing will depend on whether market conditions provide an appropriate opportunity.
US lawmakers raise concerns over alleged Chinese links
Airwallex’s international expansion has brought increased political scrutiny, particularly in the United States, where concerns have been raised about its Chinese investors and potential access to sensitive information.
In June, Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling for scrutiny of the company’s connections to China. Cotton pointed to reported investments by Tencent and HongShan, formerly known as Sequoia China, and cited China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law.
He urged the government to consider an investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and raised the possibility of requiring Chinese investors to divest their interests.
The letter followed separate criticism from venture capitalist Keith Rabois, a managing director at Khosla Ventures and a board director of competing fintech company Ramp, who described Airwallex as a potential route into sensitive American data.
Liu declined to address Cotton’s letter directly, referring instead to the company’s previous response. She argued that the regulatory environment was evolving as governments worked to establish rules for businesses operating across multiple jurisdictions.
Airwallex disputes allegations and highlights data safeguards
Chief executive Zhang has rejected the allegations concerning the company’s Chinese connections.
In a public statement, he said US customer data was stored domestically and could not be accessed by Airwallex employees based in China. The company also clarified that Tencent’s investment was a passive stake of less than 10% and that Tencent did not hold a board seat.
Airwallex has invited independent third-party firms to audit its privacy protections and data controls as it seeks to address concerns surrounding its international operations.
The Financial Times also reported in May that the company had begun relocating some China-based employees who did not work with Chinese customers, with a company spokesperson citing data security as the reason for the changes.
These issues present a significant challenge as Airwallex pursues further growth in the United States, where regulatory and political scrutiny can affect how international financial technology companies operate.
Australian financial watchdog orders independent compliance review
The company is also facing regulatory scrutiny in its home country.
In January, Australia’s financial intelligence agency, AUSTRAC, ordered Airwallex to appoint an external auditor to assess its compliance with anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations.
The regulator said the action followed concerns about what it described as suspected serious non-compliance.
Liu said Airwallex was cooperating fully with the process and argued that the scrutiny should be viewed within the wider regulatory environment affecting the financial services industry.
She suggested that the company’s rapid growth had made it more visible, rather than indicating that the regulatory action was necessarily unique to Airwallex.
The outcome of the review remains important for a business whose services depend on maintaining trust with customers, financial institutions and regulators across numerous markets.
Lucy Liu’s early investment helped shape Airwallex’s growth
Liu’s involvement with Airwallex began in 2015, after Max Li, a university friend, introduced her to Zhang in Melbourne.
At the time, Liu was taking a break from her career in finance after working at Barclays and China International Capital Corporation, a state-owned investment bank. Born in northern China, she later moved to Auckland before studying in Melbourne and building her career in Hong Kong.
Zhang was seeking $1 million to finance the startup. Liu offered $2 million in seed funding, although Zhang ultimately accepted $1 million.
Reflecting on the decision, Liu said she was 25 at the time and acknowledged that she may have been overly confident. She also recalled travelling extensively during the company’s early years, sometimes taking flights almost every other day.
Her career has since placed her among the executives recognised in Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Asia ranking.
However, Liu has expressed reservations about being singled out because of her gender. She has argued that presenting successful women as exceptions risks reinforcing the idea that raising capital and building companies are unusually difficult for women.
Australia’s technology sector looks beyond its domestic market
Airwallex is part of a wider group of Australian-founded technology companies that have established major international businesses, including design platform Canva and software developer Atlassian.
Liu said the Australian startup environment has changed considerably over the past decade. When Airwallex was first seeking investment, the country’s relatively small pool of angel investors made fundraising difficult.
Australian venture capital funds have since grown, providing more resources for ambitious technology companies.
The country also benefits from a skilled workforce, access to natural resources and close relations with the United States, factors that can attract technology investment and international business activity.
However, Australia’s geographical distance from other major markets and its comparatively small domestic customer base can make scaling a global company more challenging.
Airwallex designated Singapore and San Francisco as its global co-headquarters last year, reflecting the increasingly international nature of its leadership and operations.
Liu said the headquarters decision was less important than having talent and management distributed across the markets where the company operates. Nevertheless, she acknowledged that Australia’s size could limit the supply of talent and the domestic market available to growing businesses.
She argued that Australian technology companies could succeed globally but would benefit from additional funding, mentorship and support.
Airwallex faces a test as it pursues its next stage
Airwallex’s plans combine three major ambitions: expanding its international payments business, automating financial operations through AI and preparing for a potential public listing.
Its latest funding round gives it additional capital to pursue those objectives, while its growing customer base and revenue run rate demonstrate the scale it has achieved.
However, the company must also navigate questions about data protection, geopolitical tensions and compliance with financial regulations across multiple jurisdictions.
Whether its AI-powered products can become significant drivers of future growth will depend on customer adoption and the company’s ability to deliver reliable services while maintaining trust.
For now, Airwallex is continuing to invest in its global expansion while keeping its options open on an IPO, with Liu signalling that the company intends to move quickly without committing to a public listing before conditions are right.
