Payments platform Airwallex raised an additional US$100 million in a Series E1 financing round, to bring its Series E fundraising to US$300 million, with US$802 million raised in total, and raising its valuation to US$5.5 billion as the fintech looks to accelerate its global expansion plans.

Airwallex's Series E1 funding round was again oversubscribed, on the back of strong underlying business performance and momentum. Lone Pine Capital remained the lead for this financing, alongside other existing investors, including 1835i Ventures, the venture capital partner to ANZ, and Sequoia Capital China.

This latest fund raising follows a strong third-quarter performance, in which the company recorded a 165% year-on-year revenue increase, with annualised revenue exceeding US$100 million. The company also made more than 200 additional hires to strengthen its presence in its core markets globally.

“Our record performance last quarter demonstrates the tremendous demand from customers who are seeking better solutions to operate their businesses,” says Jack Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Airwallex. “This new capital injection will allow us to do just that, fuelling M&A [merger and acquisition] opportunities that will accelerate our global expansion plans, pursuing our mission to empower businesses to grow without borders."

In the last quarter, Airwallex continued to scale its business across the Asia-Pacific and the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions, while achieving early momentum in the US. The company launched its virtual employee cards in Hong Kong and the UK, marked its entry into Southeast Asia with licences in Singapore and Malaysia, and continued to onboard new global customers.