Australia-based international remittance service Airwallex completed a $160m series D round today backed by internet group Tencent, enterprise software provider Salesforce and financial services firm ANZ Bank.
DST Global, Sequoia Capital China, Hillhouse Capital and Horizons Ventures also took part in the round, Salesforce and ANZ Bank investing through corporate venturing subsidiaries Salesforce Ventures and Anzi Ventures.
Reports last month suggested the company was looking to raise as much as $200m at a valuation of $1.5bn. Despite the smaller round size, Nikkei Asian Review reported that it valued Airwallex $1.8bn.
Founded in 2015, Airwallex began as an international remittance service but has since expanded its offering to include a virtual card in partnership with Visa that is capable of generating new card numbers within seconds to pay suppliers in their local currency.
The company’s technology integrates with accounting software Xero and enables a multi-currency business account to transfer and receive money in denominations including Australian, US and Hong Kong dollars, British pounds, Euros and Chinese renminbi.
Airwallex has also introduced functionality such as mass international payouts for larger enterprise clients with complex financial structures.
The series D capital has been allocated to accelerated global expansion efforts, through direct customer acquisition and licensing partnerships, particularly in Europe, the US and the Middle East.
The company also plans on further expanding its product line and will explore strategic acquisitions. It has now raised more than $360m in total.
Airwallex secured $100m in a March 2019 series C round that was led by DST and which included Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital, Horizons Ventures, Gobi Partners and Square Peg Capital.
Tencent had already participated in an $80m series B round for the company in mid-2018 alongside Sequoia, Hillhouse, Horizons Ventures, Square Peg Capital and Central Capital Ventura, the VC vehicle owned by financial services firm Bank Central Asia.
Square Peg Capital had previously supplied $6m in series A-plus funding for Airwallex in December 2017, seven months after Tencent, payment services provider MasterCard and Sequoia injected $13m in series A capital.
