Key points
- Jack Zhang says Airwallex's decisive shift was talent strategy, specifically moving hiring from experience-based to competency-based, rather than its headline moments like the 2018 Stripe talks.
- Airwallex declined to sell to Stripe in 2019, investing about 80% of its $100m DST raise into new products that now generate about 60% of revenue.
- Zhang sets a goal of one million customers by 2030 at about $20,000 each, which he says would make Airwallex a $20bn company.
Airwallex's CEO on turning down Stripe to build a platform
Airwallex turned a founder's frustration with FX fees into a multi-product global payments and banking platform. The turning point was refusing a sale and spending most of its capital on new products before they earned revenue. Jack Zhang argues that AI, stablecoins and a single platform for global companies will widen the market, and that licenses built in many markets are a lasting advantage.
Takeaways
- Airwallex bet on products over selling to Stripe. After weighing a Stripe sale in 2018, Airwallex aimed for a billion-dollar company in 2019. It raised $100m from DST and put about 80% into payments, merchant acquiring and corporate cards, expecting no revenue from them for three years.
- New products now drive most revenue. The new products generate about 60% of revenue. About 80% of revenue comes from customers using two or more products. Jack argues global companies, especially mid-market firms, should use one platform rather than separate providers for processing, banking and cards.
- Talent strategy mattered more than headline events. Jack says recruitment and how the company builds businesses changed it most, not Stripe talks or COVID. Early Citibank and JP Morgan hires clashed with product design, and Shannon Scott helped move hiring to a competency-based framework.
- Building outside Silicon Valley bought time for licenses. Being outside Silicon Valley let Airwallex pursue licenses in over 70 markets with more than 80 banks. Europe and North America now make up close to 40% of revenue, up from almost zero three years earlier.
- AI will consolidate finance vendors and widen the market. Jack expects AI to cut finance back-office vendors from twenty or thirty to two or three, and to grow the addressable market about tenfold. He targets one million customers by 2030 at about $20,000 each, a $20bn company.
- Stablecoins hinge on regulation, with wallets as agent stores. Jack calls regulation and compliance the biggest stablecoin barrier. He predicts 10% of the $7tn daily FX and SWIFT flow could move on chain within ten years. Wallets, backed by mature e-money rules, suit AI agents, with stablecoins as shared currency.
- Europe is harder to scale than the US. Jack says Stripe and Ramp benefit from the US market and developer brands. Europe is 20 to 30 separate markets, which makes scaling there harder and gives Airwallex's licensing groundwork more value.