# Airwallex

> Airwallex is an Australian-founded business fintech for global accounts, payments and spend management.

Source: https://www.neobank.wiki/wiki/airwallex
Last updated: 2026-08-11
Categories: Financial technology, Australia neobanks, Australia fintech, Business neobanks, Payment platforms, Companies founded in 2015

**Airwallex** is an Australian-founded financial technology company offering multi-currency business accounts, international payments, cards and embedded finance APIs. It is frequently grouped with business [neobanks](/wiki/neobank) and FX platforms such as [Wise](/wiki/wise).[^awx1]

## History

Founded in Melbourne, Airwallex scaled across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America as a business-focused global-payments stack, raising large funding rounds and obtaining licences or partnerships market by market.

## Founders

**Jack Zhang** is co-founder and chief executive officer of [Airwallex](/wiki/airwallex), the Australian-founded global business-payments platform. After careers spanning banking and multiple side businesses—including a Melbourne café with university friend Max Li—Zhang co-founded Airwallex in 2015 after experiencing painful SWIFT fees importing supplies. He has led the company to multi-billion valuations and global multi-currency accounts, cards and embedded-finance APIs.

Co-founders **Lucy Liu**, **Max Li**, **Jacob Dai** and **Ki-lok Wong** joined from Zhang's university and early-operator network. Liu was an early investor and operator; Li shared the café genesis story; Dai and Wong helped build technology and product. Together they scaled Airwallex across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America as business infrastructure overlapping [Wise](/wiki/wise) and business [neobanks](/wiki/neobank).

## Reception

Airwallex is a major Asia-Pacific-origin business payments platform competing with [Wise](/wiki/wise) Business and bank FX desks. Multi-currency accounts, cards and embedded finance APIs place it alongside business [neobanks](/wiki/neobank) for globally trading SMEs.

## Products

Business accounts with local details, FX and payouts, expense cards, yield/treasury features in some regions and platform APIs for software companies embedding financial services.

## Infobox

- **Type**: Private
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Jack Zhang, Lucy Liu, Max Li, Jacob Dai, Ki-lok Wong
- **Headquarters**: Melbourne, Australia
- **Focus**: Business global payments

## Frequently asked questions

### What is Airwallex?

Airwallex is an Australian-founded business fintech for global accounts, payments and spend management.

### When was Airwallex founded?

Airwallex was founded in 2015.

### Where is Airwallex headquartered?

Airwallex is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

### Who founded Airwallex?

Airwallex was founded by Jack Zhang, Lucy Liu, Max Li, Jacob Dai, Ki-lok Wong.

### What type of company is Airwallex?

Airwallex is described as Private in its neobank.wiki profile.


## References

[^awx1]: Airwallex provides business financial accounts and payments under local licences and partner arrangements.