DST Global led the latest investment round in Airwallex, which was founded in Melbourne in 2015. Existing investors that include Sequoia Capital China, Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, Gobi Partners, Square Peg Capital and Horizons Ventures also took part in the Series C round.
Airwallex provides an end-to-end solution for businesses, particularly to marketplaces, online sellers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which enables them to make payments and programmatically move money on a global scale.
The company’s client list includes JD.com, Ctrip and Tencent, apart from financial service giants like MasterCard.
The company facilitates global money transfers by implementing a combination of payment collection, foreign exchange and local payment distribution.
Using its platform, customers can create global accounts instantly with local bank details. They get to access interbank exchange rates and transfer money via local and international clearing networks to more than 130 countries.
Airwallex CEO and co-founder Jack Zhang said: “We started Airwallex because we knew there was a better way to make global payments.
“Airwallex is proud to free businesses from many of the traditional barriers that have made international transactions so difficult. Our mission is to build a worldwide, technology-driven financial infrastructure that will help our customers – including marketplaces, online sellers and SMEs – grow their businesses globally.”
The Australian payments startup plans to use the new capital from the Series C round to grow its suite of international collection and payment products and also to support its international expansion into the US, UK / Europe and Southeast Asia.
DST Global managing partner Tom Stafford said: “The growing eCommerce industry needs a technology-focused payments network that is reliable, cost-effective and provides data transparency. Airwallex has built such a network and we are excited to partner with Jack and the team as they continue to grow their business”.
The funds raised in the Series C round take Airwallex’s total capital to over $200m. In July 2018, the company secured $80m funding in a Series B round. The investment round saw the participation of existing series A investors Tencent and Sequoia along with Hillhouse, Horizons Ventures, Central Capital Ventura and Square Peg.
Prior to that, the payments startup raised $22m in a Series A round.
