“Can a self-licensed global payments infrastructure company outcompete US-centric processors (Stripe, Adyen) by owning cross-border rails end-to-end?”
Founded 2015 in Melbourne as a cross-border FX and payments platform for SMBs. Expanded from FX/payouts into a full financial platform — business accounts, cards, spend management, treasury, yield, and increasingly embedded finance / BaaS for platforms. Now positions itself as the 'unified payments and financial platform' competing with Wise, Stripe, and Adyen on global reach through its own 85+ license footprint rather than sponsor-bank rails.
Airwallex discloses Airwallex (in-house) as its banking provider, with Evolve Bank & Trust as its sponsor bank, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Airwallex does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Evolve Bank & Trust.
Airwallex processes payments through Airwallex Payments (self-operated).
Airwallex's cards are issued through Airwallex (in-house) on the Visa and Mastercard networks.
Airwallex's lending and capital products are provided by Airwallex (in-house).
Airwallex uses Airwallex (in-house) for FX and cross-border payouts.
Airwallex integrates with Xero, NetSuite and QuickBooks.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 10 layers in Airwallex's stack: Payments / PSP (Airwallex Payments (self-operated)); Banking / BaaS (Airwallex (in-house)); Card issuing (Airwallex (in-house)); Card network (Visa and Mastercard); Lending (Airwallex (in-house) and Embedded lending / lines of credit via BaaS); Sponsor bank (Evolve Bank & Trust); FX & payouts (Airwallex (in-house)); Accounting (Xero, NetSuite and QuickBooks); Spend / AP (Airwallex Spend (in-house)); Treasury (Airwallex Global Treasury (in-house) and Airwallex Yield (in-house)).
Airwallex was founded by Jack Zhang, Max Li, Lucy Liu, Xijing Dai and Ki-lok Wong and is founded in 2015, headquartered in San Francisco, USA and Singapore.
Airwallex has raised $1.5B in total (latest round: Series H, 2025; valuation: $8B (December 2025)).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Airwallex and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.