Global payments and financial platform for businesses Airwallex has announced its launch in Israel to further future expansion across the region and the Middle East. As per the press release, the expansion comes at a pivotal moment for Airwallex, as it continues strengthening its global footprint, with the company having chosen Tel Aviv as its first office location in the area due to strong customer demand and the Israeli technology ecosystem.

Airwallex and what the Israel launch entails The announcement details that Airwallex already serves a multitude of Israeli technology businesses, including Papaya Global and OurCrowd, together with global companies of the likes of Shein, Qantas, Plum, and Navan (formerly TripActions). Commenting on this, Pranav Sood, GM, EMEA at Airwallex advised that setting up local operations in Israel marks the first step in the company’s expansion plans across EMEA in 2023. The spokesperson said that Israel is at the forefront of tech innovation, as well as a global hub for high-growth startups.

Per their statement, Israel-based technology businesses are ‘default global’ and the company has noticed the impact its payments and financial infrastructure can have on them as they expand across borders. Or Liban, who joined as Airwallex’s Head of Israel and the Middle East, advised that technology is core when talking about unlocking the power of global payments, with digital trade being at the front and centre for economic development in Israel and the Middle East. The spokesperson believes Airwallex’s financial infrastructure and embedded finance capability to be a useful combination for businesses looking for new revenue streams via global expansion or those interested in bettering their bottom line via cost-efficiency gains.

An Australia-based, 2015-founded company, Airwallex is a payment and financial infrastructure platform valued at USD 5. 5 billion, having raised more than USD 900 million from investors of the likes of Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia, Tencent, Square Peg, Lone Pine Capital and 1835i. The company has processed over USD 50 billion in annualised transaction volume for a global portfolio of companies and has 20 locations globally.

Airwallex 2023 development strategy Airwallex kicked off 2023 with a multitude of announcements, ranging from expansions into new regions to product updates and collaborations. In late April, the company launched its payments services in Canada with the aim of providing merchants with an alternative to traditional banks. The move enabled Canada-based businesses to leverage its key offerings including local currency accounts in more than 12 currencies, a multi-currency wallet in 44 currencies, and payouts to 150 countries using its proprietary local payment network.

Earlier that same month, it collaborated with SaaS company ApprovalMax to provide the latter’s business clients with batch payment approvals and multi-currency batch payments. The end of March 2023 saw Airwallex offering its Australia-based customers a 45-basis point reduction in what they pay to take online payments carried out by domestic credit and debit cards, with the news coming shortly after the company announced it had received an online payment licence in China. At the beginning of 2023, the company partnered with American Express with the goal to broaden merchant payment acceptance options.

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