Lucy Liu, President and co-founder of Australian-founded payments unicorn Airwallex, tells Forbes Australia global revenue grew by 73 per cent year-over-year, and transaction volume increased 60 per cent.
Founded in Victoria in 2015 by Lucy Liu and three other University of Melbourne students, $8.8 billion Airwallex continues its ascent internationally. Annual transaction volume now exceeds $100 billion globally, facilitating more than 150,000 customers in trading 60-plus currencies.
“We have more than 60 licences around-the-world and partnerships with more than 50 banking partners. Significant, yet we’re just getting started,” Liu tells Forbes Australia.
Globally, revenue grew 73 per cent year-over-year. The APAC territory – consisting of operations in Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore – exceeded that, growing revenue by 83 per cent since Q3 2023, and increasing transaction volume by 49 per cent.
“This year we focused on strengthening our infrastructure, building the Financial Operating System our customers need to thrive globally, and cultivating a culture where people feel motivated and rewarded,” says Liu.
In 2025, Airwallex will expand its APAC operations in Malaysia and South Korea, according to a company statement.
Growth in 2024
The company experienced significant growth in the Americas in 2024, opening new offices in San Francisco, New York, and Austin, and expanding the team in Toronto and Sao Paulo. It was announced in August that revenue in the Americas was up 300 per cent year-over-year.
EMEA revenue grew by 271 per cent, and transaction volume rose 145 per cent year-over-year. Hiring took place in Paris, the UK, the Netherlands, and the UAE.
“We have an incredible team of 1,600+ people across 23 offices around the world. By the end of the year, we would have added 400 new people to the Airwallex team globally,” says Liu.
Almost a third of that growth occurred in APAC, where headcount grew by 160 this year.
It was announced in November that starting in 2025 all 1,600 employees will volunteer three days a year as part of the 1% pledge movement started by Atlassian founder Scott Farquhar. Airwallex joins Atlassian, Canva, Reddit, and PagerDuty in committing 1% of employee time, company equity, and product to philanthropic efforts.
“We’re eyeing new markets all the time as we strive to help millions of businesses around the world.”
Lucy Liu
“As Airwallex enters our 10th year as a business, the time is right to build on our community initiatives to date and commit to an enduring impact program, Airwallex CEO and co-founder Jack Zhang, said when the Pledge 1% announcement was made.
A company statement confirms that $88 million -1 per cent of current Airwallex stock – will be given to philanthropic causes.
“The value of the pledge will grow alongside the company, allowing this commitment today to be a seed for a growing endowment toward social impact,” an Airwallex statement reads.
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