New fintech unicorn opens London office after securing $100m investment

Fintech firm Airwallex has achieved unicorn status thanks to a $100m funding round led by DST Global.

The $100m funding has seen Airwallex reach the $1bn valuation unicorn benchmark as it looks to expand its European operations with the opening of a new London office.

Established in Australia in 2015 by co-founder Jack Zhang, the fintech specialises in low-cost international payments and has worked with retailers and financial services providers such as JD.com and MasterCard.

Speaking about the UK expansion, Airwallex vice president for European growth, James Butland, explained: “The quality of investors in Airwallex is testament to the solutions we have developed; the likes of DST Global have invested in tech success stories such as Facebook, Alibaba and Twitter, and it matches our ambition.

“Our platforms, which have experienced huge growth in Australia and Asia, will help free businesses from many of the traditional barriers that have made international transactions and growth so difficult. Our journey has only just begun in the UK and London; but we know the market is strong - we can already see huge potential for our services.”

From its new London office, Airwallex will target UK SMEs and online marketplaces that are looking to expand internationally. Tom Stafford, managing partner of DST Global added: “Cross-border ecommerce continues to grow strongly, driven both by consumer purchasing as well as business-to-business transactions.

“This growing industry needs a technology-focused payments network that is reliable, cost-effective and provides data transparency. Airwallex has built such a network and we are excited to partner with Jack and the team as they continue to grow their business.”

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