▶Airwallex experienced extremely rapid Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) growth, reaching $500M in August 2023, $600M in November 2023, and $700M by early 2024, as stated consistently across multiple claims [1, 38].Mar 2026

▶The company raised significant capital in 2021, with its valuation escalating from $1.7B to $5.5B through multiple rounds led by investors including Greenoaks and Lone Pine Capital [9, 14].Mar 2026

▶Airwallex rejected a substantial acquisition offer from Stripe valued at nearly $1.2 billion, with specific deal terms outlined for the cap table, founders, and employees [6, 23].Mar 2026

▶Tencent was a key early and ongoing investor, co-leading the Series A and Series B rounds and participating in a later convertible note, despite initial internal skepticism from its founder [13, 17, 29, 31].Mar 2026

▶The company's relationship with Australian VCs was initially fraught, with firms like Metrics Partners, Airtree, and Blackbird rejecting the company or rescinding offers early on, before later investing at a much higher $6.2 billion valuation [15, 22, 33].

▶Airwallex's product strategy evolved significantly from initial failures, such as a peer-to-peer algorithm and an SME invoicing tool that lacked product-market fit, to a successful long-term investment in a broader product suite like card issuing that took years to generate revenue [7, 10, 24].Mar 2026

▶The company's financial health has shown a dramatic turnaround, moving from a high annual burn rate of nearly $200 million in 2022 to achieving profitability in 2023 [26, 35].Mar 2026

▶While Airwallex's core business is building global payment infrastructure, its founder is publicly bearish on stablecoins, citing high friction and conversion costs, which presents a contrasting viewpoint to a major trend within the digital payments sector [39].Mar–Apr 2026