Tech · TechCrunch
Once close enough for an acquisition, Stripe and Airwallex are now going after each other
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Jack Zhang was 34 years old, three and a half years into running a startup, and sitting across from one of the most powerful investors in Silicon Valley.
Key facts
- Stripe was valued at $159 billion in a February tender offer — up 74% from a year earlier — after processing $1.9 trillion in total payment volume in 2025
- In the meantime, Zhang says he’s focused on longer-horizon targets: a million customers by 2030, $20 billion in annual revenue, average revenue per customer growing from around $12,000 to $13,000
- Airwallex now claims more than $1.3 billion in annualized revenue and is growing at 85% year-over-year
- At 85% annual growth and projecting $2 billion in revenue within the next year, Airwallex is closing the revenue gap faster than the valuation gap would suggest
Summary
At the time, the Melbourne company had around $2 million in annualized revenue. The math was pretty irresistible: a revenue multiple somewhere near 600 times. The business was growing 100 times in 2018. And the reporter only sort of tasted what it to be an entrepreneur. And that’s what the reporter would been dreaming about.” Two of his three co-founders had voted against the deal, which helped. Airwallex now claims more than $1.3 billion in annualized revenue and is growing at 85% year-over-year. Zhang grew up in Qingdao, a port city in northeastern China, and moved to Melbourne at 15 without his parents, barely speaking English, living with a host family.