In a tough market, Airwallex raises a second $100m Series E extension

Early reports of Visa’s involvement appear to have called it wrong.

SME banking provider Airwallex has raised an additional $100m as part of a second extension to its Series E funding round that had originally closed in September 2021.

The fintech’s $200m Series E first grew by $100m just two months later in November 2021, and is now growing by another $100m at a flat $5.5bn valuation, taking the total Series E round size to $400m.

Two new investors joined this latest extension, Australian superannuation fund HostPlus and an unnamed North American pension fund, as well as a long list of existing Airwallex investors including Tencent, Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Lone Pine Capital, Hermitage Capital and 1835i Ventures.

“The valuation underscores investors’ confidence in Airwallex’s core business value and fundamentals, and we are fortunate to have the continued support of our existing investors, and the confidence of new investors, as we pursue our vision to become the global economic infrastructure for modern businesses,” said Jack Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Airwallex.

“The market environment remains challenging in the foreseeable future, and while we remain well capitalised, this additional runway allows us to continue our growth plans, product expansion, and hire some of the best talents in the world.”

Early reports had suggested that Visa was considering taking part in the latest Series E extension and that the raise could reach up to $150m, however, it seems those discussions didn’t lead to an investment by the payments giant.

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

Since 2021 Airwallex has dramatically accelerated its international expansion across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, with a growing presence in London where it recently ran an extensive marketing campaign to drive awareness.

As part of the funding announcement, Zhang said the fintech’s customer base had more than doubled year-on-year, with revenue increasing by 183 per cent during the same period.

Already the company is planning improvements to its core expense management platform, and Zhang teased that “a credit solution” is also in the works.