The Untold Story of Airwallex

Jack Zhang's journey from factory floors to building a global fintech powerhouse that turned down a $1.2B acquisition

Early Struggles: From China to Australia

At 16, Jack Zhang lost all financial support from his family. Having moved to Australia at 15, a year later everything changed. Unable to return home, he had to cover his $24,000 tuition fees on his own.

He took on every job imaginable: 12-hour shifts at a lemon factory in 40°C heat, bartending from 4 pm to midnight, and overnight stints at a petrol station—often for 4-5 days a week—while studying computer science.

Jack Zhang and team celebrating, possibly a birthday or milestone event

The Spark: Why Money Should Move Like Data

Despite the grind, Jack never stopped coding. Running a small coffee business, he encountered the frustrations of international payments—slow, expensive, and broken.

This led to the questions that birthed Airwallex: Why can't money move like data? If data travels in seconds, why does money take weeks?

Illustration of global payment challenges or Airwallex's vision

The First Investor: A Leap of Faith

One day, Jack met Lucy in his coffee shop. He shared his vision for fixing global payments, and she offered $1M for 20%—before the company was even registered. At 24, Lucy had never invested before, but she saw the potential.

Graphic representing the early investment or founding moment

Near-Death Experience #1: The VC Pullout

In 2016, after signing a term sheet, disaster struck. A VC called a week later: "I don't think this algorithm thing will work. We're pulling out." The team nearly ran out of money.

Near-Death Experience #2: Anchor Customers Fall Short

By 2017, Airwallex raised a Series A from heavyweights like Mastercard and Tencent, who promised massive volume as anchor customers. The product was built entirely around their needs—but they delivered less than 1% of what was committed.

Chart showing the revenue shortfall or product pivot in 2017

The $1.2 Billion Offer: Turning Down Stripe

In 2018, with just $2M in revenue, Stripe offered to acquire Airwallex for $1.2 billion—a 600x multiple. Jack personally stood to make over $2 billion based on Stripe's later valuation.

But the team said no. During talks, Stripe's Patrick Collison shared: "I'm building Stripe for the next 20, 30, 40 years." Jack realized that's what he wanted too. 90% of the team agreed—they wanted to keep building.

Near-Death Experience #3: COVID's Impact

Closing the Series D in 2020, COVID hit. The US market crashed 30% in a week, and Airwallex's revenue dropped 40%. Customers in tuition and travel sectors vanished overnight.

Explosive Growth: From $100M to $1B ARR

From 2021 to 2025, Airwallex took off. Revenue scaled from $100M to $1B ARR in four years. Teams grew, expansion hit North America and Europe (with >250% 4-year CAGR), and the product evolved from infrastructure to software and AI agents.

Today, they process over $235B in payments annually. And in a major milestone, they've raised $330M at an $8B valuation.

Growth chart from 2021 to 2025 showing ARR scaling

Airwallex team photo, celebrating growth

Breaking the Silence: From Invisible to Iconic

For 10 years, Jack rarely posted or shared the story. In Australia, you "keep your head down and let the work speak." But invisibility hurt recruiting and awareness—competitors with half the scale got 10x the attention.

To change that, Airwallex sponsored McLaren F1 (who've won Constructors twice) and Arsenal FC.

The Future: Beyond Payments

Airwallex is no longer just a cross-border payments company. They're building the end-to-end financial operating system for global business: infrastructure, software, AI agents, and autonomous finance.

That's the vision for the next decade.