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Australia-based fintech Airwallex raised $100 million in a Series C funding round led by DST Global that included participation from Sequoia China, Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, and Gobi Partners, according to TechCrunch.
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This brings Airwallex’s total funding to over $200 million, making it Australia’s first-ever fintech unicorn. Airwallex enables businesses to complete cross-border transfers and works in a similar way to UK-based TransferWise’s consumer-facing arm.
Here’s a look at Airwallex’s plans for the future:
- The fintech wants to dip more into the banking space. Airwallex already allows business customers to set up overseas bank accounts in 50 different countries for international transfers, enabling clients to save as much as 90% on their foreign exchange rates, per TechCrunch. Additionally, Airwallex enables businesses to plug into other services, including Stripe. In the future, it wants to launch a credit card, as well as apply for a banking license; however it’s not clear yet in which country it would apply for one.
- Airwallex will fuel global expansion with the fresh capital. Initially, Airwallex focused on Asia — China, in particular — but with the new funding, it wants to expand globally. It aims to drive this international expansion with acquisitions and is actively looking to acquire startups in both the US and the UK.
The bigger picture: Airwallex may be Australia’s first fintech unicorn, but it’s unlikely to be its last as we expect the region’s fintech to pick up pace.
- Funding and a more accommodating approach to fintech will fuel the Australian fintech scene. Three years after launching, Airwallex has reached a valuation of over $1 billion. And this is not surprising when looking at the recent funding uptick in Australia: Funding grew 396% from $69 million in 2017 to $343 million in 2018, per CB Insights. Additionally, Australia made some changes to better accommodate fintechs in 2018, when it granted the first restricted banking license to Australian neobank volt in May.
- It’s likely that more players in the country will expand internationally. Fifty-four percent of fintechs in Australia cited expansion to new markets as a focus for this year, with the UK leading the way for a potential new market, followed by the US, according to EY. With funding increasing in the country, other fintechs may have the necessary capital to be able to expand internationally.
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See Also:
- UK bank customers were scammed out of $1.58 billion in 2018 — a jump driven by an spike in data breaches
- Banks are struggling to meet the latest PSD2 deadline
- UK fintechs might struggle to lure talent amid Brexit
SEE ALSO: Latest fintech industry trends, technologies and research from our ecosystem report
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Lea Nonninger)