Airwallex valuation more than doubles in 8 months to $7.6 billion after $137 million top up round

Melbourne fintech Airwallex has tapped investors for another US$100 million (A$137m) just two months after raising US$200 million (A$275m).

The capital-ravenous business has now raised US$400 million in just eight months, and as eager investors pile in, each round – the latest tagged “Series E1” following September’s Series E – has seen the company’s valuations soar.

In just eight weeks, it’s jumped 37.5% from A$5.5 billion to $7.6bn and more than doubled since the US$200 million (A$275m) series D in March this year at a valuation of A$3.4bn.

The payments platform has now raised more than A$1.1 billion from investors.

Lone Pine Capital once again led the round, with support from existing investors including ANZ’s VC fund 1835i Ventures, and Sequoia Capital China.

The six-year-old company says the raise follows a strong third-quarter performance delivering a 165% YoY revenue increase. Annualised revenue now exceeds US$100 million. Airwallex also made more than 200 additional hires to its team.

Co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang said the new capital injection will fuel M&A opportunities to accelerate the company’s global expansion plans.

Over the last quarter, Airwallex continued to scale its business across APAC and EMEA and gained early momentum in the US.

The business launched its virtual employee cards in Hong Kong and the UK, marked its entry into Southeast Asia with licences in Singapore and Malaysia, and continued to onboard new global customers.

Lone Pine Capital co-chief investment officer David Craver said: “Airwallex’s achievements in the last quarter alone showcases the strength of the company’s business model and its unique ability to meet customers’ evolving needs in a competitive digital payments market.”