Aussie ‘unicorn’ is born

Fintech start-up Airwallex breaks into $1bn club

FINTECH start-up Airwallex has become Australia’s latest “unicorn” company after a $US100 million ($140 million) fundraising that values the payments transfer provider at more than $US1 billion.

The Series C fundraising round was led by DST Global, which has invested in the likes of Facebook, Airbnb and Spotify.

Sequoia China, Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, Gobi Partners, Horizons Ventures and Australia’s SquarePeg Capital have also contributed more funds after participating in an $80 million fundraising about nine months ago.

The company has become a unicorn – the term given to private start-ups worth more than $US1 billion – within three years of its launch.

The capital will be used to expand Airwallex’s international collection and payment products, and to support expansion into the US, UK, Europe and southeast Asian regions.

“We’re basically building a global financial infrastructure,” said chief executive Jack Zhang (pictured).

With a single know-yourcustomer check, an Airwallex client can open a local bank account in 50 different currencies, and instantly send and receive money internationally using lower interbank rates, Mr Zhang explained.

Other international payment solutions charge as much as 3 per cent or 4 per cent in currency fees. Airwallex says it can save customers up to 90 per cent on foreign exchange fees.

Mr Zhang said the company’s Asia-Pacific business had increased five-to-eightfold this year, was transferring billions and looking to take on more small businesses as clients.

“Very few companies are growing at this kind of rate,” he said.

Airwallex last year moved its headquarters from Melbourne to Hong Kong, but it still has about 60 of its 260 employees in the Victorian capital.

It is looking to double that number this year, hiring more project managers and engineers.

Mr Zhang said, given how easily the company was raising money privately, it had no plans to go public for at least three years.

Australia’s other “unicorns” include graphic design company Canva and aerial imagery company Nearmap.

Sydney software company Atlassian listed on the US NASDAQ market in 2015 and now has a market capitalisation of about $US26 billion ($36 billion).