TENCENT, Chinese tech mammoth that had started the eminent messaging platform called WeChat and its coherent payment platform called WeChat Pay, is making an investment in Airwallex, Melbourne-based cross-border payment startup. Through this investment, Chinese giant is seeking to expand beyond its native China.
About Airwallex
The company was established in 2016 after seeing great potential for profit and success of cross border transaction. The startup is seeking to expand its business to the every corner of the world including European and lucrative Asia pacific markets.
Recently acquired fund by Airwallex
Recently, Airwallex raised US$13 million through a Series A round of funding driven by Tencent with the association of Mastercard, Sequoia China, and other investors.
Airwallex Vs TransferWise
Airwallex keeps targeting the businesses and enables them to accept and make an international payment at a lower cost with enhanced convenience irrespective of the fact that another transfer payment mammoth TransferWise follow customer-centric business model.
Transaction charges applied by the company
Last year it had gained a sum of US$3 million and it has built a large base of partners and associates for trading that will assist it to save money of the customers with provision of lower transaction charges as well as cheap currency rates.
Currently, the startup charges every transaction as per a specific percentage of the total payment but it is seeking to configure a method for mass-payout.
Vision of the startup
Jack Zhang, CEO of the company said that, “We’ve made settlement and reconciliation very easy, but our customers can also enjoy institutional FX prices to save a lot of money. We can access the most competitive pricing in the world to facilitate traditional retailers that don’t enjoy that sort of rate”.
Company wants to snatch the control of bank over payment arena
Airwallex wants to go against the dominating control of the banks over payment transfers. Even though the business is stable in countries like Europe and China, Airwallex thinks that the B2B concept would differentiate them from other competitors.
Zhang also made a statement that, “We had ordered a big batch of takeaway cups from China because importing them was much cheaper than buying locally, but when it came time to pay the invoice I was shocked at how badly we were getting fleeced on the foreign exchange rate and fees”.
Airwallex and its association with WeChat
Services of Airwallex will be associated with WeChat Payment platform and it has already experienced a down fall in cost especially among tourists board of China.
Zhang said that the company is basically focused towards insurance companies, financial institutions and several other players who are involved in international payments business.
Company preparing for expansion
They have not counted out the fact of working with other players in future. He added in his statement that, “It makes sense to take strategic investment from Tencent because the WeChat ecosystem and WeChat pay is a big deal. The internationalization will be interesting in the next couple of years, so we want to prepare ourselves for that expansion”.
Startup is stretching its leg in several cities
The startup has now put its leg across several cities of Asia Pacific which includes Hong kong and Shanghai and are about to launch new offices in Singapore and London as well. The largest transaction happened between Southeast Asia and China followed by Australasian countries. The startup is also seeking to put it’s legs in Europe.