Airwallex to grow Israel operations

Australian fintech giant Airwallex has announced plans to expand its Israel operations, following a $320 million funding round that has lifted the Melbourne-founded company’s valuation past $11 billion.

The Series H round, which closed in late June, was led by returning investor Addition, with participation from Baillie Gifford, Hummingbird, QED Investors, T. Rowe Price, Hedosophia, Haun Ventures, Washington University in St Louis and Amex Ventures. It lifts Airwallex’s valuation from $8 billion in December 2025 to more than $11 billion, cementing its status as one of the fastest-growing fintech firms in the world.

The company said it would use the capital to develop AI-based financial software, expand its payments infrastructure and regulatory presence in new markets, and grow its engineering and product teams – including in Israel.

Or Liban, Airwallex’s vice-president and managing director for the Middle East, Benelux and the Nordics, said the company remained committed to scaling its Israeli operations. “Here in Israel, we remain committed to scaling our operations and increasing our investment in the Tel Aviv centre. We have been doubling our activity and headcount in Israel annually,” he told The Jerusalem Post.

The Tel Aviv office currently employs about 30 people, having doubled its workforce over the past year, and the company is continuing to recruit as it expands across Israel and the wider Middle East.

Airwallex launched its Israel operations three years ago, establishing its Tel Aviv office in May 2023 to tap into the country’s skilled technology talent and high-tech ecosystem. In July 2025 it secured a payment service licence in Israel – becoming one of the first international companies to do so – authorising it to offer its full suite of global payment solutions to Israeli businesses, including multi-currency accounts, cross-border payments, card issuing and expense management. The company has positioned Israel as a strategic hub for its expansion across Europe and the Middle East.

Co-founder and chief executive Jack Zhang said the latest funding would support the company’s push into AI-powered financial services. “We believe this is the most consequential moment in the history of global finance, and we are building accordingly,” he said. “A decade ago, we did not know exactly what the agentic economy would look like, but we built a foundation for it.”

As part of the announcement, Airwallex unveiled two products. T:0 is an AI-native platform designed to automate the full finance function of a business, including bookkeeping, forecasting, tax, compliance and reporting, and is currently in private beta. Airi is a digital wallet built for AI-driven commerce, which the company said had increased merchant conversion rates by up to 14 per cent in early testing.

Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex provides payment processing, global accounts, corporate cards and expense management, and serves more than 676,000 businesses worldwide, directly or through its platform customers. It holds more than 85 financial licences across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, and is co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore, employing more than 2300 people across 27 offices. The company said it planned to continue hiring in Israel and the Middle East.