Australian cross-border payments service Airwallex has landed $13m in a round led by Chinese web giant Tencent.
Sequoia Capital China, MasterCard and existing backer Gobi Ventures also participated in what the company claims is one of the largest Series A round picked up by an Australian tech firm to date.
Airwallex offers a B2B cross-boarder payments service designed to enable businesses to make and receive international payments at scale through a suite of APIs.
The Melbourne-based company already works with Tencent to allow its 1.1 billion WeChat users to make overseas transfers.
The company’s primary target for clients is financial institutions and will use the capital to accelerate its overseas expansion around the Asian Pacific and Europe.
Airwallex co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang commented: “The continued growth of international trade and the global economy rely on efficient cross-border transactions.
“Our mission is to eradicate the burden of international payments so that businesses can transact across borders with ease.
“Armed with a growing number of financial services licences and partnerships across numerous jurisdictions, we aim to make international payments as cheap and simple as domestic payments.”
The round takes Airwallex’s total funding to $16m with it previously picking up $3m in July last year.
Sequoia partner Steven Ji said: “Airwallex is Sequoia Capital China’s first startup investment in Australia.
“Foreign exchange transactions pose a real challenge for businesses that operate across borders and Airwallex’s solution has seriously impressed us in its ability to close the gap and allow companies to financially access markets that may have previously been out of reach.”
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