World News – AU – $ 2 Coffee $ 5 billion startup: Atlassian supports Airwallex

Real-time payment platform Airwallex has received approval from Australian tech darling, Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar backing his latest round of funding

Airwallex’s latest fundraiser added US $ 40 million (AU $ 56 million), bringing its valuation to a whopping US $ 8 billion (AU $ 2 5 billion)

Farquhar and his wife invested in the startup through their private equity vehicle, Skip Capital, according to SMH, and existing investor Square Peg also helped raise funds

Co-founder Lucy Liu told the publication that after the success of the company’s US $ 160 million Series D fundraiser earlier this year, they decided to extend the fundraiser to $ 40 million. US dollars to continue their global expansion

“The additional funds raised will allow Airwallex to invest in the continued development of its product suite, strengthen its existing footprint in key regions such as Asia-Pacific and UK / Europe, and ‘expand its global payments coverage to include other regions such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa, « the company said

This brings the total Series D funding to $ 200 million and the total equity funding to date to over $ 400 million

“A major shift in the way businesses operate from offline to online is something Airwallex has predicted since its inception,” said co-founder Zhang “However, 2020 has accelerated this transition in a way no one could have predicted

« Companies are now rushing to embrace digital transformation at an unprecedented rate We believe more than ever that the digital economy will be at the center of the global economic fabric »

Co-founders Jack Zhang and Max Li were the owners of Melbourne Tukk & Co cafe, with the idea of ​​Airwallex coming to them after finding the import fees of products like coffee mugs from other countries too dear

Zhang and Li enlisted their university friends Liu, Xijang Dai and Ki-Lok Wong to create a payment platform that would make it more economical to import goods from abroad

« The first years are about survival, » Liu told Yahoo Finance in 2019 « It was organized chaos »

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