Australia-headquartered cross-border payment technology provider Airwallex amassed $200m yesterday in a series E round featuring financial services firm ANZ Bank and enterprise software producer Salesforce.
The round, which values Airwallex at $4bn, was led by hedge fund manager Lone Pine Capital, while G Squared, Vetamer Capital, DST Global and Sequoia Capital China also participated. Salesforce Ventures and 1835i Ventures took part on behalf of Salesforce and ANZ Bank respectively.
Founded in 2015, Airwallex provides the digital infrastructure used by financial institutions to process domestic and international payment transactions. It has also developed tools for treasury management, card issuance and currency exchange.
The proceeds will go towards Airwallex’s global expansion and will help the business speed up its product development. It also plans to grow its sales and commercial divisions as well as expand its product offering for small and medium-sized enterprises and large companies in the digital economy.
Jack Zhang, co-founder and chief executive of Airwallex, said: “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, and become a dominant leader in global payments.”
The company has raised over $700m of equity funding to date. Greenoaks Capital led a $100m extension in March this year to take its series D round to $300m, investing with 1835i Ventures, then known as ANZi Ventures, as well as Grok Ventures and Skip Capital.
Airwallex had taken $40m funding from undisclosed investors in September 2020 having reached a $160m first close of the series D in April 2020 that included internet group Tencent, ANZi Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, Sequoia Capital China, Hillhouse Capital and Horizons Ventures.
DST Global led Airwallex’s $100m series C round, in March 2019, which also featured Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital, Horizons Ventures and Gobi Partners.
Central Capital Ventura, a venture capital subsidiary of financial services firm Bank Central Asia, contributed to an $80m series B round for the company in 2018 that was also backed by Tencent, Sequoia China, Hillhouse Capital, Horizons Ventures and Square Peg Capital.
Airwallex had received $6.1m from Square Peg Capital in December 2017, after picking up $13m in its series A round in May that year from investors including payment services firm Mastercard, Tencent and Sequoia China. It had bagged $3m from Gobi Partners, Huashan Capital One and Billy Tam in 2016.