Airwallex plans to be IPO-ready by end of 2026, says president
The $11 billion payments company is preparing for public markets but says timing remains uncertain amid regulatory complexity
Airwallex, the Melbourne-born payments platform now valued at $11 billion, says it still intends to be IPO-ready by the end of 2026. But “ready” and “doing it” are two very different things.
In a recent interview with Fortune, Airwallex president and co-founder Lucy Liu confirmed the company’s timeline for preparation while acknowledging that actually pulling the trigger on a listing is another matter entirely. “It’s just not the best time, given how complicated things are,” Liu said.
A fintech giant quietly flexing its numbers
Airwallex reported a $1.3 billion annualized revenue run rate as of March 2026, representing 74% year-over-year growth. Its annualized transaction volume hit $287 billion, more than doubling from the prior year with growth exceeding 120%.
The company serves over 675,000 businesses globally. Airwallex says it is both cash-flow positive and EBITDA positive with healthy gross margins.
Those metrics got a fresh stamp of approval in June 2026, when Airwallex closed a $320 million Series H round that bumped its valuation to $11 billion. That’s a 37.5% jump from the $8 billion price tag it carried in December 2025. The company has now raised more than $1.8 billion in total funding since its founding in 2015.
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Regulatory headwinds and the China question
In Australia, the company has been navigating compliance audits mandated by AUSTRAC, the country’s financial intelligence agency. Separately, US authorities have raised concerns about Airwallex’s connections to China, a geopolitical dimension that adds complexity to any potential US listing.
CEO Jack Zhang has indicated the company is prepared for a public offering but remains focused on product development and expansion while these regulatory conversations play out.
Beyond payments: the AI pivot
Airwallex has been investing in what it calls autonomous finance and agentic commerce, using AI to automate financial processes that currently require human intervention.
The company is also launching the Latitude 37 program, which plans to invest $1 million equity-free into ten Australian AI startups.
What this means for the fintech IPO landscape
With cash-flow positivity and a fresh capital injection from the June 2026 Series H, there’s no financial urgency for Airwallex to go public. Liu’s language — being “ready” rather than committed to a specific date — gives Airwallex maximum flexibility to pick its moment.