Airwallex takes on the market in Israel

Airwallex, an Australian fintech company, has announced its official launch in Israel, as part of its plan to expand across the Middle East. The company is looking to recruit a founding team of approximately ten people to establish its presence in the region. Airwallex has also stated that it will explore possible acquisitions of local cybersecurity firms. Or Liban has been named as Airwallex’s Head of Israel and the Middle East.

Liban was previously Google’s Head of Global Partnerships, and has held leadership roles at Orange and the Israeli Prime Minister’s office. “Technology plays a central role in realizing the potential of global payments – and digital commerce plays a central role in the economic development of Israel and the Middle East,” he said. “Airwallex sees Israel as a strategically important market, both commercially and technologically.”

Airwallex’s first office in the region will be located in Tel Aviv, due to strong customer demand and the thriving Israeli technology ecosystem. The company has already established partnerships with several leading Israeli technology businesses, including Papaya Global and OurCrowd, as well as global companies such as Shein, Qantas, Plum, and Navan.

Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex is a global payments and financial platform that has raised over $900 million from investors, including Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia, Tencent, Square Peg, Lone Pine Capital, and 1835i. The company is valued at $5.5 billion and has doubled its revenue year on year. It has processed more than $50 billion in annualised transaction volume for a global portfolio of companies. With 20 locations worldwide and 1,300 employees, Airwallex plans to hire an additional 500 employees globally by the end of 2023.

“Setting up local operations in Israel is just the first step in our ambitious plan for expansion across EMEA in 2023,” said Pranav Sood, GM, EMEA at Airwallex. “Israeli technology businesses are ‘default global’ and we have already seen the impact that our payments and financial infrastructure can have for them as they grow across borders. I’m excited to welcome Or to the team – he will be instrumental as we supercharge our operations in Israel and the Middle East.”