▶ 45:23 · $SEQUOIA · Sequoia brand and network enabled Airwallex to recruit talent and pivot to API-first model

episode briefing

Airwallex's Jack Zhang on Fintech, Failure, and Growth

2026-06-29 · 5 company · 5 thematic

sentiment

2 bull2 bear1 neu

speakers

Jack Zhang co-founded Airwallex in 2015 after a journey from China to Australia where he worked multiple jobs while studying. He previously started a magazine at 14, worked in investment banking algorithmic trading, and launched several businesses including architecture, real estate, coffee shops, and a burger chain. Airwallex now has 2,200 employees across 26 offices, $1.2-1.3B revenue growing 85%, valued at $11B+.

quote

“when we when we try to pivot when we you know, try to pivot to the to the API idea we already raised from you know, Sequoia and and MasterCard and a few other famous VCs. Um, and um, that is a you know, obviously that the the brand um, kin…”

—jack zhang

episode shorts · 3

How Airwallex Won Over Macquarie

The $1M Investment That Turned Into $500M

How Airwallex Was Born

now playing · $SEQUOIA

$AIRWALLEXbullish· high· posjack zhang

Airwallex building vertically integrated global financial infrastructure to replace Swift

Airwallex is constructing a fully vertically integrated financial and regulatory infrastructure layer across 60+ markets with generic finance on top, enabling autonomous finance w…

$STRIPEneutral· mediumjack zhang

Stripe dominates startup payments but Airwallex sees path to compete via global money movement

Stripe is the default payments provider for Silicon Valley startups, but Airwallex aims to compete by leveraging its global money movement infrastructure — a capability Stripe lac…

$MA···bearish· mediumjack zhang

MasterCard promised $1B volume to Airwallex but delivered almost nothing

MasterCard invested in Airwallex and committed to driving $1B in transaction volume but failed to deliver, illustrating that large strategic investors may not fulfill commercial p…

$SEQUOIAbullish· mediumjack zhang

Sequoia brand and network enabled Airwallex to recruit talent and pivot to API-first model

Sequoia's brand credibility and network helped Airwallex attract better talent and provided the capital runway to pivot from SMB invoicing to an API-first business model, which be…

$SOFTBANKbearish· mediumjack zhang

SoftBank withdrew term sheet after WeWork collapse, nearly sinking Airwallex during COVID

SoftBank was close to signing a term sheet with Airwallex pre-COVID but disappeared after the WeWork implosion, forcing Airwallex into a desperate convertible round and highlighti…

←