Australian-founded Decacorn Airwallex has acquired San Francisco-based billing startup OpenPay to expand beyond payments into subscription management.
Key Takeaways
- Airwallex has acquired OpenPay, a US-based billing platform, in a bid to expand beyond payments and compete with incumbents like Stripe Billing and Recurly.
- The company will launch its billing product in Q4 2025, targeting businesses with complex, multi-currency and usage-based billing needs.
- The deal signals Airwallex’s push to become a full-stack financial platform, adding billing to its existing accounts, FX, and payments suite.
- Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Key Background
Airwallex started in 2015 to cut the cost of moving money across borders. Since then, it’s expanded into FX, corporate cards, and embedded finance. The OpenPay deal marks its first major push into recurring revenue infrastructure.
“Most billing systems are locked in the past, they were never designed for a global, multi-currency world. That’s the gap we’re closing,” said Jack Zhang, Co-founder and CEO of Airwallex.
“By bringing OpenPay’s subscription management, orchestration, and analytics capabilities into Airwallex, we’re creating the first truly global billing platform.
“The OpenPay team brings deep technical strength and a shared conviction in our vision, and we’re thrilled to have them on board as we help businesses scale seamlessly across borders.”
Airwallex didn’t say how much it paid, however, Co-founder Lucy Liu, who appeared on cover of Forbes Australia Issue 17, separately told The Australian the company is also building an AI-powered virtual CFO, though no launch date was provided.
Big Number
AU$9.6 billion – Airwallex’s post-money valuation after raising $465 million in May.
Crucial Quote
“Most billing systems are locked in the past, they were never designed for a global, multi-currency world. That’s the gap we’re closing,” said Jack Zhang, Airwallex CEO.
What to Watch For
Airwallex says its new billing product will go live in Q4.
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