Financing milestone of Airwallex: CEO Jack Zhang discusses the upcoming trends in payment systems infrastructures
Airwallex, a Singapore-based cross-border payments company, is experiencing continued growth in 2025. The company, which targets an addressable global native SMB market of 120 million companies, is primarily focusing on achieving $1 billion in annualized revenue (ARR) by Q4 2025.
At the heart of Airwallex's strategy is the use of AI. The company is leveraging AI-powered APIs to deliver scalable, instant cross-border financial services that outpace traditional banking settlement speeds and costs. This technology allows customers to instantly create local account numbers in more than 60 countries and send or receive funds across over 150 countries, with 68% of transactions processed instantly and 95% settled within hours or the same day.
Airwallex is currently processing approximately 180 billion global transactions and is approaching $900 million in annual recurring revenue. The company expects to surpass $1 billion in early Q4 2025. Its revenue is composed roughly of 45% from business accounts that facilitate global treasury and payments, 25% from corporate cards and spend management (used by over half their customers), and 30% from merchant acquiring services, which show rapidly increasing attach rates.
The company's business model achieves a net retention rate above 150%, underlining strong customer loyalty and growth. Geographically, just under 70% of revenue is generated in Asia-Pacific, with Europe and North America comprising just over 30%. The latter is growing at more than 200% year-over-year and is expected to exceed 40% of revenues within 6 to 12 months.
Airwallex is not only focusing on revenue growth but also on geographic expansion. The company has established operations in APAC, EMEA, the Americas, Japan, Korea, the UAE, and Latin America. The recent $300 million fundraising round, increasing the company's valuation to $6.2 billion, supports this geographic expansion, including new U.S. headquarters and Latin American market entries.
In addition to its core offerings, Airwallex offers multicurrency products, including the ability to hold stablecoins. However, stablecoins are currently a long way from mainstream adoption.
As Airwallex continues to expand, it is positioning itself as a global banking platform, with a focus on serving the payment needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) worldwide. The future of financial infrastructure, as seen by Airwallex, will be significantly impacted by AI. The company is increasingly implementing AI across its internal and customer-facing services.
Despite its success, Airwallex has not yet announced plans for an Initial Public Offering (IPO), and its focus remains on staying private. The company aims to onboard more businesses and reach more than one million by 2030, with current active customers numbering under 100,000.
In March 2025, Airwallex secured $300m in a Series F funding round, raising its total funding to over $1.2 billion. This funding will support the company's continued growth and expansion into new markets. As Airwallex continues to innovate and grow, it is poised to become a key player in the global financial sector.
[1] Source: Airwallex's official statement [2] Source: TechCrunch, March 2025 [3] Source: Reuters, March 2025
The integration of AI technology is crucial to Airwallex's strategy, as it uses AI-powered APIs to deliver instant cross-border financial services, disrupting traditional banking settlement speeds and costs.
Airwallex's revenue is primarily generated from business accounts, corporate cards and spend management, and merchant acquiring services, with a focus on serving small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) worldwide.
