The launch in New Zealand further strengthens Airwallex’s footprint in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region having announced an expansion into Singapore and Malaysia early this year, in addition to its preliminary presence in Hong Kong.
Airwallex in New Zealand
The Melbourne-based company, which is valued at USD 7.6 billion, also expanded into Singapore at the start of this year, following its grant of a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and a beta launch in November 2021.
Founded in 2015, Airwallex is one of the fastest growing financial technology companies, operating across Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America, including Singapore today with over 1,200 people and operating across 19 international offices in 11 territories.
The launch would enable businesses in New Zealand to tap into Airwallex’s global payments services that offer a faster, more cost-effective, and transparent traditional and alternative banks.
Businesses in New Zealand now have access to key Airwallex offerings including international collections – multi-currency wallets in over 11 currencies and local pay-outs in over 30 currencies. The full suite of Airwallex’s global products, including employee cards and multi-currency company, its online payment acceptance capabilities and spend management will be progressively extended in the market.
Sam Kothari, Airwallex’s Head of Growth for ANZ, said that they are so pleased to be extending their services to New Zealand, a natural step after establishing a strong presence in their home market of Australia. They see today’s launch as a huge opportunity for Kiwi businesses to broaden their reach into international markets.
Kothari said that their entry into New Zealand market is something their customers have been requesting for some time now. Businesses tell them that they have been deterred from reaching their full potential in this market due to the complexity of trading across borders or making international payments.
By providing local businesses with a single global financial platform, they would aim to empower the company to scale successfully, which is especially critical in this current economic environment, he said.
Sam continued that many of their Australian customers have expanded to New Zealand. Ensuring that these Australian businesses now have an efficient and cost-effective way to streamline their financial operations between the two countries. This can help Airwallex with their growth plans in the ANZ region.
Airwallex customers now can easily open a Global Account in New Zealand Dollars (NZD) in seconds. With this increased ability, businesses with operations in Australia and New Zealand can easily collect payments from their customers, pay their staff and suppliers in both the countries, and convert NZD to AUD and vice versa at market-leading rates, and thus driving business growth opportunities between both markets.
In Hong Kong, Airwallex offers a whole range of application programming interface (API) software for businesses to accept online payments, launch financial products globally, and manage funds.
The company said that it spent its third quarter scaling the business across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and launched its virtual employee cards in Hong Kong and the UK in November 2021.
The move came after Airwallex raised USD 275 million in its Series E and E1 fundraising rounds led by Lone Pine Capital, which aided fund to the company’s rapid expansion plans.
In July 2018, Airwallex also made its drive into North America following a USD 108 million Series B raise which established backing from Tencent, Sequoia China, Horizons Ventures, Hillhouse, Central Capital Ventura, and Square Peg.
At the time, the company had five global offices in London, Melbourne, Shanghai, Singapore, and Hong Kong.