Or Liban, Airwallex: "Start-ups suffer from financial discrimination"

Or Liban, Head of Israel and the Middle East at Airwallex, participated in a special session on the evolution of fintech held as part of the high-tech Journey conference organized by the accounting firm Ernst & Young. 

Liban presented the activities of the global fintech giant Airwallex, which entered Israel last year. According to him, "Airwallex provides a platform for payments and financial operations, which gives modern businesses the power required to grow in international markets. We allow companies to operate globally from the first moment and do it in a much simpler and more cost-effective way compared to the situation where the companies had to go through a very long process with financial institutions traditional, and each time in front of a different bank. These processes are expensive and take a lot of time."

"What we know how to provide in the best way is an end-to-end financial setup for medium-sized businesses and also for start-ups who end up struggling to establish the right financial infrastructure to expand internationally. We provide customers with a variety of financial solutions in the areas of clearing, money management, foreign exchange and transfers abroad. In addition, we make cross-border payments using our embedded finance products. In the end, these businesses don't have access to the right tools that can help them grow." 

Liban added: "Studies show that the services that banks provide today to companies facing the global market are less relevant than before, while the services of fintech companies like Airwallex are more adapted to meet the needs of those companies. We are faster and provide services at lower costs. The strong growth of Airwallex in Israel and the Middle East , and generally around the world, is due to the fact that we save startups, growth companies, and medium-sized businesses a great deal of time and money."

Liban also referred to the ecosystem in Israel: "We bring innovation, and Israel is an ecosystem of innovation. CEOs and CFOs of startups understand this quite quickly. I'm talking about technologically advanced companies that are looking for a partner who understands technology and can interface with them. This is our DNA and not necessarily that of traditional financial players. Companies from the high tech sector in Israel know how to adopt technology, want financial innovation and want a financial partner that will grow together with them. In the end, we help businesses to be both local and global from day one." 

Liban concluded: "We look at Israel as a strategic market both at the level of the customer base and at the level of companies with which we can create partnerships, in some cases invest in them or even purchase them." 

The global fintech giant Airwallex, which operates a global platform for payments and financial services for businesses of all sizes, processed transactions in a volume of nearly $500 million in the first year of operation in Israel. In the first quarter of 2024, the company's revenues in Israel grew at an annual rate of 129% and the volume of transactions increased by 51%. As of August of this year, Airwallex Global was processing more than $100 billion in annual transaction volume, a 73% year-over-year increase. Airwallex continues to register an increase in activity volumes in all its products, including clearing, foreign exchange, card transfers and issuances, embedded payments (embedded finance), and an annual run rate of approximately $500 million. These achievements come after the company moved to flow Positive cash at the end of 2023 - the result of a successful adaptation of its products to the market, an extensive global infrastructure and constant expansion to additional markets.

Airwallex was founded in 2015 in Melbourne, Australia and is one of the companies with the fastest growth rate in the world in the field of payments and financial infrastructure. The company is valued at $5.6 billion and has raised more than $900 million from some of the world's leading investment firms, including Sequoia, DST Greenoaks Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Lone Pine Capital and iVentures 1835 (ANZ Bank).

Airwallex employs 1,500 people in 23 offices around the world and intends to recruit additional workers in Israel and the Middle East during the year 2024.