Observed Signal · Apr 15, 2026 · Product Launch · Source: techcrunch · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Airwallex launches cross-border POS to challenge Stripe
Airwallex announced a new point-of-sale (POS) product that enables businesses to accept in-person payments across multiple countries via a single platform without onboarding local vendors in each market. The move extends Airwallex’s existing global payments infrastructure — including local banking licenses, direct connections to local payment networks, and multi-currency settlement — into the physical retail environment, positioning the company as a direct rival to Stripe, Square and Adyen. Airwallex says it is valued at $8 billion, generates roughly $1.3 billion in annualized revenue with ~85% year-over-year growth, serves more than 46,000 U.S. businesses, and processes about $100 billion in annual volume. CEO and co-founder Jack Zhang highlighted the firm’s ability to hold and settle funds locally in markets such as Japan as a competitive differentiator.
Airwallex is extending its global payments infrastructure into physical POS, creating direct competition with major payments providers (Stripe, Square, Adyen). The cross-border unified POS capability could reduce merchant fragmentation and change how multinational retailers manage payments and reconciliation.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Airwallex launched a point-of-sale (POS) product that allows in-person payments across multiple countries via a single platform without local vendor onboarding.
- Airwallex is valued at $8 billion and reports about $1.3 billion in annualized revenue, growing roughly 85% year-over-year.
- The company serves more than 46,000 U.S. businesses and processes approximately $100 billion in annual volume.
- Airwallex holds close to 90 regulatory licenses across roughly 50 markets, has direct connections to local payment networks in over 120 countries, and can settle in more than 90 currencies.
- In 2019, Stripe offered to acquire Airwallex for $1.2 billion when Airwallex reported $2 million in revenue; Airwallex declined and continued building its own payment rails.
Connected Companies & Entities
6 Entities mappedRelated Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Airwallex Rejected Stripe Offer, Now Competes Globally
Airwallex founder Jack Zhang says he declined a past $1.2 billion acquisition proposal from Stripe and has since built the company into a global payments infrastructure provider. Airwallex now claims more than $1.3 billion in annualized revenue, ~85% year-over-year growth, and is processing roughly $300 billion in annualized transaction volume. The company holds close to 90 financial licenses across 50 markets and offers capabilities such as local currency balances, card issuance and treasury-like services that can reduce FX costs for merchants. Airwallex was valued at about $8 billion in December and projects ~$2 billion in revenue within a year; Stripe was valued at $159 billion in a recent tender and processed $1.9 trillion in 2025. Airwallex is expanding into the U.S. and rolling out AI-powered autonomous finance products while positioning itself as infrastructure-first relative to Stripe.
Airwallex: Payments Will Become Invisible, Says Tom Sellin
Airwallex, the Australian fintech, is accelerating its European expansion and positioning itself as the financial infrastructure for an emerging era of AI-driven, agentic commerce. In a Finance Forward podcast interview, Tom Sellin — Head of Growth DACH at Airwallex — said that payments will become "completely invisible" within the next three years as AI agents handle checkout on users' behalf. Airwallex, founded in Melbourne in 2015 by Jack Zhang and last valued at about $12 billion, has reserved more than $1 billion for expansion across Europe, the Middle East and Africa through 2030 and plans to invest €31 million in Germany. The company aims to compete with established payment providers such as Wise, Stripe and Adyen.
Stripe and PayPal Back Xflow's Cross-Border Payment Revolution
Xflow, a Bengaluru-based fintech founded in 2021, raised $16.6 million in a Series A round led by General Catalyst with participation from existing investors Square Peg, Stripe, Lightspeed and Moore Capital, and a new investment from PayPal Ventures. The all-equity round values Xflow at $85 million post-money and brings total funding to over $32 million. Xflow provides cross-border B2B payment infrastructure and APIs for exporters, SaaS firms, platforms and freelancers, enabling collections, foreign exchange and settlements in India. The company says it processed nearly $1 billion in annualized cross-border volume last year and serves about 15,000 businesses. Xflow has an RBI PA-CB license for exports and imports, a payments license in Canada, plans import capabilities and is pursuing licenses in Singapore. It offers an AI-based FX tool and has about 65 employees.
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