Airwallex CEO & Co-Founder, Jack Zhang: The Angel That Turned $1M into $1BN

Background & Early Struggles

• Jack (co-founder/CEO) immigrated to Australia at age 15; lost family financial support at 16 and was unable to return to China for university.
• Sustained himself through manual labor: worked 16+ hour days in lemon factories (carrying boxes in 40°C heat), restaurants, and petrol stations (selling lollies).
• Tuition costs were $24,000 AUD annually; funded studies by working multiple jobs while attending University of Melbourne.
• Developed resilience and "financial discipline" through early hardship, though later admitted to a lack of budgeting discipline post-Series D.
• First entrepreneurial success was a high school magazine ("Urban Exploration") at age 13-14; attracted 8,000 merchants for ads and funded the school.

Pre-Airwallex Ventures

• Post-graduation, worked as an algorithmic trader at Aviva (earning ~$200k/year) while running side businesses generating $2-5 million annually.
• Side ventures included exporting olive oil/wine to China, importing textiles, a phone case reseller (Qualock), and real estate development (40-50 apartments, $50M AUD project).
• Earned over $10 million by age 28-29, achieving financial security but lacked passion for these businesses.
• Co-founded a coffee shop with Max Lee (co-founder) to understand payments; discovered the lack of a "Square-like" solution and NFC/QR payment issues in 2013.
• Initial product vision split: Jack wanted NFC payments; CTO Jacob argued for QR codes (which eventually won globally).

Airwallex Founding & Early Pivots

• Founding Idea: Identified SWIFT network inefficiencies (1970s architecture, 140-character message limits, high fees, slow settlement) as a problem to solve.
• Seed Funding: Raised $1M USD from Lucy (friend's wife, an investment banker) within an hour of meeting; initially agreed to 40% equity, revised to 20% for $2M, ultimately settled on $1M for 20%.
• First Pivot (P2P): Attempted a peer-to-peer FX algorithm; realized billions in volume were needed to work, which was unfeasible.
• Second Pivot (Invoicing): Built invoicing products for SMEs; failed to find product-market fit (PMF) due to high acquisition costs and low volume.
• Near-Death Experiences:
  • 2015: SoftBank-led term sheet ($10M post) was pulled back after signing; investors demanded a demo before wiring funds.
  • 2017: Sequoia and Tencent were set to lead a Series A but deal stalled; Tencent founder (Pony Ma) rejected the idea, asking "Why can't we build this ourselves?"
  • 2017: Revenue was near zero; Squarespace (SquarePac) invested $6M (Series A extension) after Jack pivoted to an API-driven global money movement infrastructure.
• Breakthrough: Onboarded major clients Shein and a tuition payment provider in Jan 2018; grew to $1B transaction volume within 9 months.
• Tencent Resolution: After a demo failure (404 error on pay button), James Mitchell (Tencent strategy head) convinced the founder to invest; Sequoia and Mastercard joined the round shortly after.

Growth, Strategy & The Stripe Offer

• Stripe Acquisition (2018): Stripe offered $1.175B ($800M cap table + $350M founders + $25M employees); deal was rejected.
  • Reasoning: Co-founders voted to stay; Jack preferred building a global bank over being 35-40 with $3B in cash without purpose.
  • Vision: Inspired by Patrick Collison's 20-30 year commitment; aimed to build "AWS for financial services."
• Expansion & Burn: Raised $100M from DST (Series B) and $150M from Hedosofia (Series D) without revealing Hedosofia's name publicly.
• Mistakes:
  • Aggressive international expansion (UK, US) in 2019-2020 without PMF, leading to wasted capital and eventual rollback.
  • Hired "ex-bank" talent who lacked startup mindset; fired the first 100-200 employees due to culture mismatch.
• Pandemic (2020): Revenue dropped 50% (lost tuition/travel volume); US markets tanked 30% in a week; Hedosofia closed the $1.7B round despite uncertainty.
• Strategic Pivot (2021): Transitioned from money movement infrastructure to a full global bank (issuing corporate cards, merchant acquiring).
  • Revenue model shifted; new products (banking) started generating revenue in 2022 after 3 years of heavy investment with no immediate return.
• Growth Metrics:
  • Never grew below 100% year-over-year from 2015 to 2023.
  • Arrived at $500M ARR in August 2023; grew to $600M in November; $700M in Jan/Feb 2024.
  • Projected >$1B revenue by end of 2024.
  • Burn rate was ~$200M/year in 2022; achieved profitability in 2023.
• Fundraising Strategy: Raised multiple rounds in 2021 (Gran Oaks, Lone Pine); valuation jumped from $1.7B to $5.5B quickly.
• Recent Deal: Completed $300M round at $9B valuation (6.2x revenue multiple, ~13x gross profit multiple) in early 2024.
• Buyback: CEO taking $70M personal debt to buy back secondary shares from early investors.

Lessons & Advice

• Hiring: Regretted not hiring a dedicated recruiter early on; should not log into LinkedIn personally to message hundreds of candidates.
• PMF: Warns against over-investing in international expansion before achieving product-market fit.
• Culture: Emphasizes hiring for curiosity, resilience, and belief in the vision rather than "big bank" experience.
• Secondaries: Advises founders to take enough secondaries to live comfortably for life but avoid taking too much too early (e.g., >$30M in late-stage rounds).
• Investor Selection: Prioritizes investors with "leverage" (brand, hiring, commercial opportunities); values top-tier brands like Sequoia over personal fit alone.
• Regret: Did not hire an investor like Michael Moritz (Stripe) who acted as a visionary champion and advisor from day one.

Future Outlook

• Goal: Build a global payments/banking platform larger than Citi or HSBC by 2035.
• IPO: No immediate plan for an IPO; focused on "head down" building.
• Personal Interests: Admits to not liking the "people issues" of being CEO but values controlling the company's destiny.
• Investment Interest: Would allocate capital to SpaceX (50%), OpenAI (33%), and some in Stripe/Revolut.