Airwallex valuation jumps 50% to $12B in five months, Addition doubles down

What's the deal? Airwallex has raised a new round at around a $12 billion valuation , Axios scooped on 28 May 2026. The round was led by Lee Fixel's AdditionDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → — the same firm that led Airwallex's $330M Series G at an $8B valuation in December 2025. That's a 50% valuation step-up in roughly five months.

Why now? The cross-border payments firm has reportedly hit $1.5 billion in ARR , up from $1 billion as of October 2025, with internal talk of reaching $2 billion by year-end. Its U.S. unit alone is processing around $100 billion for more than 40,000 businesses — the kind of growth curve that justifies the markup. Airwallex is also said to be preparing to apply for a U.K. banking licence, mirroring Revolut's playbook.

The big picture: Airwallex is positioning itself as a business superapp, competing with everyone from Stripe to Citi. Originally focused on cross-border transactions, it has added spend management, billing, and business accounting on top of its global accounts and multi-currency infrastructure.

The intrigue: The new raise comes on the same day the Financial Times reported Airwallex is relocating some Hong Kong and Shanghai staff in response to a U.S. executive order restricting bulk transfer of sensitive data to China — a move that addresses scrutiny from rival-backed investors (Keith Rabois at Khosla, whose portfolio includes Ramp) over Airwallex's China exposure. The company says it remains active in both cities.

The signal: A 50% valuation step-up in five months, with the prior lead doubling down, is a strong endorsement at a time when the late-stage market is otherwise selective. Addition's repeat conviction — alongside the ARR trajectory and the regulatory push (12 new licences in 2025, U.K. banking application pending) — frames Airwallex as one of the few cross-border fintech infrastructure plays still compounding into the public-markets window.

Source: Axios