3 reasons why Visa should acquire Airwallex 💸; Logan Paul and the collapse of the NFT market 🌪; Brazilian companies are buying crypto like their future depends on it 😳
FinTech is Eating the World, 12 October
Hey Everyone,
Happy Wednesday! Today’s issue is the most interesting one this week because we are looking at 3 reasons why Visa should acquire Airwallex (it’s a brilliant deal that makes a ton of sense), Logan Paul and the collapse of the NFT market (he’s a perfect reflection of how far the market has fallen over), and Brazilian companies that are buying crypto like their future depends on it (but it makes sense!), plus bonus reads on banks becoming crypto companies and crypto companies becoming banks, lessons from another failed neobank, and more. Let’s jump straight into the hot stuff:
3 reasons why Visa should acquire Airwallex 💸
Following the money 💸 Australian FinTech Airwallex has just closed its Series E extension with a $100M final investment, all at the same $5.5B valuation.
Existing investors include Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Lone Pine Capital, Hermitage Capital, 1835i Ventures, and Tencent. HostPlus, an Australian industry superannuation fund, as well as a leading North American pension fund also participated in this round. Airwallex’s total funding increased to more than $900M. That’s a lot of money…
The USP 🥊 For those of you who aren’t familiar with Airwallex, founded in 2015, FinTech is focused primarily on global businesses. Its multicurrency accounts let firms accept and transmit global transactions. And businesses can create virtual cards for supplier payments and corporate spending with its borderless card solution.
In other words, Airwallex offers a virtual multi-currency business account with many of the same features as a Tide or Starling Bank, such as invoicing, expense cards, and international payments.
Cart abandoned 🛒 Early reports had suggested that Visa V 0.00%↑ was considering taking part in the latest Series E extension and that the raise could reach up to $150M, however, it seems those discussions didn’t lead to an investment by the payments giant.
I think that was a miss. In fact, Visa should acquire Airwallex and it should do it ASAP. Let’s take a look at 3 reasons why it’s a brilliant deal: