Airwallex names San Francisco dual headquarters

Making San Francisco a co headquarters signals that Airwallex is no longer treating the US as just another sales region, it is moving the center of gravity closer to the customers, partners, regulators, and talent that matter most for its next phase. That fits a business now selling not only cross border transfers, but also cards, treasury, and embedded finance tools to companies like Brex, Deel, and Rippling that need deep US product and compliance muscle.1 2 3 4 5

• Airwallex had already been building toward this. It opened North America in 2021, expanded leadership in San Francisco in 2024, and by late 2024 said it had local compliance coverage across 49 US states and territories. The co headquarters move formalized an operating shift that was already underway.6 7 8
• The US matters because Airwallex is climbing the stack. By March 2025, cards and payments made up more than 50% of gross profit in Europe and the US, and 60% of revenue came from API products and embedded finance. Those products require product managers, bank partners, and enterprise sellers close to large software and platform customers.3 4
• This also sharpens the competitive lane. Wise is strong in simpler business transfers, but Airwallex handles higher volume customers, around $1M in volume per customer versus Wise Business at about $66K, and sells a broader bundle that includes local accounts, card issuing, and payout infrastructure. A San Francisco power base helps it compete more directly with Stripe, Brex, and PayPal on their home turf.3 10

The next step is a deeper US buildout that makes Airwallex look less like an Australia born payments specialist and more like a global financial software company with American distribution. If execution holds, San Francisco becomes the hub for winning larger enterprise accounts, expanding higher margin software products, and anchoring a future public company narrative around global scale with real US presence.1 2 5