Visa reportedly takes an interest in Airwallex’s second Series E extension

Valuation will apparently stay flat at $5.5bn.

Payments giant Visa is said to be in talks with SME banking provider Airwallex, to join the second extension of its Series E funding round.

Airwallex first raised $200m in September 2021 at a $4bn valuation, then topped it up with an extra $100m in November 2021 at a $5.5bn price tag with help from Lone Pine Capital.

Now Bloomberg reports that Airwallex is extending its Series E again, by between $100m and $150m, but this time maintaining its valuation at $5.5bn.

The report cautioned that discussions with Visa are still ongoing and an agreement has yet to be reached.

An Airwallex spokesperson declined to comment, while Visa has yet to respond to AltFi’s request for comment.

Airwallex offers a virtual multi-currency business account with many of the same features as Tide of Starling Bank, such as invoicing, expense cards and international payment.

In the third quarter of 2021, Airwallex said it saw a 165 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue, and is now operating at an annualised revenue rate of over $100m.

Pranav Sood was appointed general manager for Airwallex in EMEA earlier this year, as well as being appointed a director of the company's UK and Netherlands entities.

On his appointment, Jack Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Airwallex, said the hire was part of the company’s move to “strengthen our foothold in EMEA”.