Startup · $3.6b raised
Fintech payments and financial infrastructure company
San Francisco, OS
Every published round Airwallex took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted, and a place in one of its own programs is under Cohorts.
| Company | Stage | Announced | Amount | Role | Alongside | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Melbourne | Grant | 30 Aug 2026 | $4.8m | Participant | RenewEconomy, ARENA, Fintech News Australia | |
| Metal | Seed | Jun 2026 | ~$50m | Lead | Fintech News Australia, AFR Technology | |
| Drone-Hand | Grant | 14 Mar 2025 | $10k | Lead | Startup Daily, Australian FinTech | |
| Chocolate on Purpose | Grant | 14 Mar 2025 | $10k | Lead | Startup Daily, Australian FinTech |
Everyone Airwallex has named to a program in published coverage. A place in a program is not a raise: the cheque is the figure recorded with the place, which is the program's standard terms where we hold them, and a blank is one we don't.
Companies Airwallex has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Melbourne | University operating the Melbourne Connect innovation precinct | 30 Aug 2026, Grant | 1 | 0 |
| AXIOMS | 28 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Blank Robotics | 28 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Dreamscale Labs | 28 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Forward | Forward sources borrowers globally, structures their documents, and matches them to the b… | 28 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 |
| Geospan | 28 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Kronus | 28 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Polarbear AI | 28 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| SeatFinder | 28 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Superstat | Melbourne-founded startup turning iPhone footage of amateur basketball games into full bo… | 28 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 |
| SyncPay | 28 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Metal | Jun 2026, Seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Chocolate on Purpose | Chocolate business with social impact supporting Indigenous growers of native edibles | 14 Mar 2025, Grant | 1 | 1 |
| Drone-Hand | autonomous livestock management platform | 14 Mar 2025, Grant | 1 | 1 |
Fund closes reported for Airwallex, as distinct from the investments it has made.
Companies Airwallex has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Airwallex did.
| Company | Bought by | Kind | Announced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No portfolio company of Airwallex is recorded as having been acquired. | ||||
Companies Airwallex acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
| Company | Kind | Announced | Price | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leapfin | Acquisition | 6 Jun 2026 | - | Australian FinTech, This Week in Australian Startups |
| OpenPay | Acquisition | 4 Sep 2025 | - | Forbes Australia, Australian FinTech |
| CTIN Pay | Acquisition | 6 Mar 2025 | - | Fintech News Australia, Australian FinTech |
| MexPago | Acquisition | 20 Oct 2023 | - | Australian FinTech (21 May 2025), Australian FinTech (6 Mar 2025), Australian FinTech (20 Oct 2023) |
Existing Airwallex shares sold by the funds and people who held them. None of this money reached Airwallex, and none of it counts in what Airwallex raised.
| Sold by | Announced | Amount | Valuation | Bought by | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 May 2025 | $150m | - | Crunchbase News, Women's Agenda, Australian FinTech, Forbes Australia |
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round Airwallex raised.
| Investor | Rounds | Invested |
|---|---|---|
| 1835i | Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Activant | Series D+ | - |
| Addition | Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| AirTree Ventures | Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Amex | Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Baillie Gifford | Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Blackbird Ventures | Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ | $120,000,000 |
| DST Global | Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ · Series C | - |
| Grok Ventures | Series D+ | - |
| Haun Ventures | Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Hedosophia | Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Hermitage Capital | Series D+ | - |
| Hostplus | Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Hummingbird | Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Lingotto | Series D+ | - |
| Lone Pine Capital | Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| New York investors | Series D+ | - |
| NGS | Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| QED Investors | Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Robinhood Ventures | Series D+ | - |
| Salesforce Ventures | Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Sequoia Capital China | Series D+ | - |
| Square Peg Capital | Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| T. Rowe Price | Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Tencent | Series D+ | - |
| TIAA Ventures | Series D+ | - |
| Visa Ventures | Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
| Washington University in St. Louis | Series D+ · Series D+ | - |
Investors whose own portfolio pages list Airwallex, even though we haven't found any coverage of the round yet.
| Investor | Listed on |
|---|---|
| Athletic Ventures | its portfolio page ↗ |
Stories naming Airwallex. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Metal, co-founded by Loong Wang and Catherine Porter, completed a roughly $50 million seed round with Airwallex and its venture arm Capital 49 as joint leads, per new filings.
Weekly roundup reporting Australian startup funding rounds and government grants, a venture fund close, agreed acquisitions, an IPO pricing, a collapse, plus executive hires and AI policy developments.
Weekly roundup recording a dozen raises and acquisitions, Firmus's scheduled float, a new $50m venture fund, a founder share sale, grant winners, an accelerator intake, and an AI agent's government breach.
Also Dynamic Business·DealStreetAsia·This Week in Australian Startups·Dealroom·ABC News Technology
Startup Daily reports Airtree has extended its Frontier founder residency to San Francisco, dangling uncapped US$250,000 SAFE notes at expat Aussie and Kiwi founders; its Sydney edition hosts alumni of major local tech firms.
Roundup of the week's Australia and New Zealand raises: Gridsight, Pearler and Apate.AI secure the biggest cheques, Drumbeat and GonGlobal add smaller sums, and ten AI startups join Airwallex's Latitude 37 program.
Airwallex unveils Latitude 37, naming ten young Australian AI startups to its first cohort; members receive equity-free backing, mentorship, worldwide network access and overseas immersion trips.
Airwallex's inaugural Latitude 37 program has selected ten AI startups, each receiving $100,000 in non-dilutive cash alongside mentorship, connections and overseas travel.
Weekly roundup: Blackbird confirms a record fund close and Galileo reaches a first close, Genesis merges with Proudi, IREN secures massive debt, and several startups report raises, grants and program wins.
Blackbird has locked in a second billion-dollar fund — its sixth, slightly bigger than the last — bringing in new institutional backers, and the article recalls portfolio wins, writedowns and failures.
Blackbird announces its new early-stage and growth funds have brought in A$1.05 billion, reflecting on early cheques, portfolio outcomes like Eucalyptus's sale, and new international backers.
Also Dealroom·Dealroom·AFR Technology·Startup Daily·Business News Australia·Forbes Australia·Forbes Australia
Weekly roundup: Constantinople raises $62.5m; Blackbird wraps fund six above $1b; Guardhouse buys Mobohubb; SCX.ai debuts on the ASX; plus seed rounds, exits and executive changes across the ecosystem.
Capital Brief's roundup: superannuation policy plans, a NSW data centre planning dispute, KPMG resisting a break-up, Stripe and Canva leaders on AI, Stripe's local Treasury push, and Culture Amp's data policy change.
Robot data analysis startup Alloy Robotics has raised $11.5 million in a seed round led by Square Peg, with Blackbird and Airtree participating, less than a year after a $4.5 million pre-seed.
Also SmartCompany
Cut Through Venture's Q2 2026 report shows early-stage deal numbers at historic lows, though quarterly capital reached $1.7 billion, driven by two large rounds by Firmus and Airwallex.
Also Startup Daily·Business News Australia·Cut Through Venture
Cut Through Venture's Q2 2026 report counts $1.7 billion announced across 64 venture rounds, carried by two mega-deals, with record median deal sizes, AI concentration, and deal counts at their slowest since before 2020.
Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany
Square Peg's half-year investor letter reports two funds reaching final close, three exits including Talon.One's sale to Adyen, realisations past US$1bn, and a framework for judging AI disruption across its portfolio.
Square Peg reports 30% portfolio growth, US$1bn+ cumulative realisations, US$138m returned this half, closes two new funds, and outlines an AI disruption framework.
Weekly roundup flags Acorn's purchase of learning firm B Online Learning for an undisclosed sum, plus $487m across ten raises, Airwallex product launches, Blackbird's biggest-ever investment, and layoffs at Culture Amp and Immutable.
Airwallex has closed a Series H valuing it at $16 billion, with Addition in the lead and eight other backers named; the piece also recalls its December Series G.
Weekly newsletter edition recaps seven funding deals worth $82.5m, reports Expert360 is seeking a buyer, covers Airwallex's new AgentOS product, notes a proposed capital gains tax break for startups, and unveils a redesign.
Weekly roundup: eight funding rounds totalling $12.1m; Airwallex bought Leapfin; 4DMedical agreed a deal for Contextflow; Scalare Partners took over Fishburners; Airtree and Build Club each unveiled new founder programs.
Also Australian FinTech
Weekly roundup tallies five completed raises totalling $26.6m, plus Airwallex releasing a billing product, HEO approaching a Series B, Tanda hunting a private-equity backer, Firmus's ASX listing timeline slipping, and a DroneShield shareholder protest.
Weekly roundup: Hipages takes a majority stake in VIZ Insurance, Side Stage Ventures banks $40m for fund two, Airwallex unveils the Latitude 37 program, Anthropic appoints an ANZ general manager, Atlassian shares jump.
Side Stage Ventures has reached a $40 million initial close on its $50 million second fund, backed by founders of earlier wins, while principal Elli Hanson steps up to partner.
Airwallex cofounder and CEO Jack Zhang announced Latitude 37, an annual program giving ten young Australian AI founders $100,000 each without taking equity, plus network access and overseas immersion; registrations are open.
Airwallex co-founder Jack Zhang recounts turning down Stripe's billion-dollar buyout, describes building a licensed global payments network, and argues the Melbourne fintech can now challenge Stripe directly.
TechCrunch profiles Airwallex's new point-of-sale offering letting businesses take payments in person across countries, pitting the Australian firm against Stripe, Square and Adyen, and recalls its rejection of Stripe's 2019 buyout bid.
LaunchVic and dealroom.co report Victorian startups raised a record $2.4 billion in 2025, driven by late-stage deals despite early-stage declines.
Payments company Airwallex has brought in a new independent chair for its Australian board and added a former New Zealand prime minister as a director; he already leads its NZ board.
Weekly digest reporting Australia Post's purchase of delivery-software firm Rendr, an $83 million sharemarket raise by 4DMedical, Reserve Bank director Elana Rubin's move to Airwallex, and an Anthropic-government memorandum.
Also SmartCompany
Airwallex has appointed Elana Rubin AM to chair its Australian board and former New Zealand prime minister Sir Bill English as a director there, with both roles starting immediately; their other board roles are listed.
Stone & Chalk awarded its 2026 International Women's Day scholarships to twelve female founders across Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide hubs, doubling the intake after applications rose 60%; a past recipient's climate startup also appears.
A retrospective on 2025 Australian venture activity: large raises at Firmus, Heidi Health, Airwallex and others, deep tech momentum, and Folklore's own backing of Hullbot and Sphere.
Also Square Peg Capital·Australian FinTech·Cut Through Venture·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·RenewEconomy·RenewEconomy·Fintech News Australia
Square Peg Capital has reached a A$650 million first close across its two newest funds and is already investing the money, with payments company Airwallex among recipients, ahead of a final close.
Also Forbes Australia
AirTree closes its $650m Fund V across seed and growth vehicles, backed mostly by international institutional capital, and promotes three early-career investors to Principal.
Airwallex has completed its acquisition of South Korean licensed payments provider Paynuri, enabling cross-border financial services for Korean businesses; the deal follows Airwallex's recently reported Series G round valuing it at US$8 billion.
A year-end list profiling women leaders worldwide, from presidents to tech founders; it recalls Airwallex's landmark capital raise and Mira Murati's new AI venture with its record seed round.
Also Forbes Australia
Funding roundup led by Airwallex's US$330 million Series G at a $12 billion valuation, with raises from Kasada, Hnry, All G, Bless Payments and Emanda, plus earlier rounds recalled.
Also Startup Daily
Fintech Airwallex raised a $498 million Series G led by Addition, lifting its valuation to $12 billion; Square Peg and Airtree joined, and Blackbird's $60 million May Series F backing is recalled.
Perth remittance startup Bless Payments revealed a $3.75 million seed round backed by Charlie Shahin and London's Forte Securities, with a Series A planned to fund expansion into Canada, the UK and the US.