Finances of Airwallex: Jack Zhang, CEO discusses the future of financial transactions systems at $1 billion valuation
Airwallex, a cross-border payments company based in Singapore, is experiencing significant growth in 2025. The company, which enables businesses to send and receive funds across more than 150 countries, is approaching $900 million in annualised revenue and expects to hit $1 billion later this year.
The company's strategy to achieve this milestone centers on expanding its API-driven international payment infrastructure. This allows businesses to send and receive cross-border payments faster and with lower fees than traditional banks. Airwallex demonstrated rapid growth, surpassing $800 million in annualized revenue by June 2025, representing a 90% increase year-over-year, and processing over $130 billion in annualized payment volume.
Key elements of their strategy include building robust cross-border payments infrastructure, targeting varied currency markets, and expanding product offerings. The company started developing an API product in 2017, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region for market penetration and leveraging deep expertise in international payments.
While the CEO Jack Zhang expresses skepticism about stablecoins’ utility in G10 currencies due to low cost and real-time transfer capabilities, the company is exploring their use for exotic currencies with lower liquidity. Airwallex has also launched financial products like "Yield" in Singapore and Hong Kong to help businesses earn competitive returns on multi-currency funds.
Regarding AI implementation, Airwallex is increasingly implementing AI across its internal and customer-facing services. While the specifics about how AI is being used to change financial infrastructure are not detailed, the company’s focus on API-driven platforms and advanced payment settlement technologies implies leveraging automation and potentially AI-driven analytics to optimize cross-border payments, reduce costs, and enhance real-time settlements.
Airwallex's financial infrastructure supports global multicurrency business accounts, cards, and expense management solutions. The company aims to position itself as a global banking platform, with only 20% of its transactions currently containing FX.
The future of financial infrastructure will be significantly changed by the increasing use of AI, as per Airwallex's perspective. Stablecoins fit into Airwallex's financial ecosystem, but they are a long way from "mainstream adoption."
As of now, Airwallex has onboarded 150,000 businesses but has under 100,000 monthly active customers, aiming to reach over one million by 2030. The founders are considering an IPO, but there is no definitive decision yet on whether to stay private or go public. In March 2025, Airwallex secured $300m in a Series F funding round, raising its total funding to over $1.2bn.
[1] Source: TechCrunch, "Airwallex hits $800 million in annualized revenue, plans for $1 billion by year's end," 2025 [2] Source: Finextra, "Airwallex's Jack Zhang on the potential of stablecoins," 2025 [3] Source: Airwallex, "Introducing Yield: A new way to grow your business," 2025 [4] Source: Airwallex, "Yield: Earn competitive returns on your multi-currency funds," 2025 [5] Source: Airwallex, "Airwallex Yield: Frequently Asked Questions," 2025
Airwallex, with its focus on expanding its API-driven international payment infrastructure, is leveraging technology to facilitate faster and lower-cost cross-border business payments. As the company gears up to hit $1 billion in annualized revenue, it is also exploring the use of technology-driven solutions like stablecoins for exotic currency markets and implementing AI across its services to optimize cross-border payment operations and enhance real-time settlements.
