Airwallex and OurCrowd Partner to Make It Easier to Invest in Global Startups
For the first time, you can invest everywhere from anywhere
Partnership aims to save investors money and currency transfer time
LONDON & JERUSALEM–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Airwallex, a leading global payments and financial platform for modern businesses, today announced its partnership with OurCrowd, the global venture investing platform and Israel’s most active venture investor. For the first time, institutions and individual accredited investors will have the ability to invest in startups anywhere – in their own local currency with a single click of a button.
Until now, when making a startup investment, investors had to convert their local currency into US dollars and then wire it. With this new partnership, OurCrowd’s investors from over 195 countries can invest in global startups on a digital platform in their own currency easily, quickly and with favourable terms.
“With the globalization of the startup world, advanced fintech which is multi-currency is a game changer. Now, you can be sitting in Israel and invest in a Silicon Valley startup, pay in Shekels with a single click and it is totally transparent,” said OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved.
Commenting on the partnership, Pranav Sood, EGM, EMEA at Airwallex said, “With embedded finance, modern businesses of all sizes can bring global connectivity to customers by offering their own local payment solutions and minimizing FX pain points. Our embedded finance partnership is a perfect example of how we support and enable our customers’ end users to grow, while also giving OurCrowd the tools to expand and deepen their services. From streamlining payment processes for investors and startups to minimizing FX costs, embedded finance is simplifying the way businesses operate across borders.”
By integrating Airwallex’s API, OurCrowd can now offer users the ability to invest in their own local currency, rather than being restricted to only USD-denominated wire transfers. A stack of Airwallex’s products, including Global Accounts, Payouts and LockFX, now allows accredited investors to participate in startup deals with minimised friction and maximised efficiency.
OurCrowd allocates a global account to each investor, who can select from an assortment of currencies, including their own local denomination. Once selected, OurCrowd converts the funds into USD at a transparent rate that is generally locked in for 24 hours. This integration improves efficiency and speed, providing a seamless experience for all parties.
Since embedding Airwallex’s API in February this year, more than a third of OurCrowd’s FX flow goes through Airwallex and is typically completed in under 24 hours. OurCrowd aims to increase its flow with Airwallex to 90 percent by the end of the year. This is the first phase of Airwallex’s partnership with OurCrowd, focused on local payment acceptance. Phase two will focus on expanding OurCrowd’s payment options so investors can invest using the best local payment options and currencies available via local rails.
“Airwallex works just as it should,” said Joachim Maus, an OurCrowd investor based in Germany. “It cuts the time, hassle and expense of converting my payments from euros into dollars and makes investing in OurCrowd deals much more convenient than using a bank transfer.”
Micky Sapir, OurCrowd’s VP of Product said, “OurCrowd’s partnership with Airwallex has made a significant positive impact on our customers’ overall experience. By reducing transfer times across the board and enabling localised transfers and FX services for investors worldwide, OurCrowd’s investment platform has become even more reliable, fast and efficient.”
Founded in 2015 in Melbourne, Australia, Airwallex is one of the fastest-growing payments and financial infrastructure companies in the world. The company is valued at US$5.6 billion and has raised over US$900 million from some of the world’s top investors including Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia, Tencent, Square Peg, Lone Pine Capital and 1835i. Globally, Airwallex’s revenue has doubled year on year and the company has processed more than US$50 billion in annualized transaction volume for its global portfolio of customers. With operations in over 20 locations globally and a team of 1,400 employees worldwide, Airwallex plans to continue its exponential growth by hiring an additional 500 global employees by the end of 2023, including hires in Israel and the Middle East.
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NOTES TO MEDIA
About Airwallex
Airwallex is a leading global financial platform for modern businesses, offering trusted solutions to manage everything from payments, treasury, and spend management to embedded finance. With our proprietary infrastructure, Airwallex takes the friction out of global payments and financial operations, empowering businesses of all sizes to unlock new opportunities and grow beyond borders. Proudly founded in Melbourne, Airwallex supports over 100,000 businesses globally and is trusted by brands such as Brex, Rippling, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more. For more information, visit http://www.airwallex.com.
Airwallex (UK) Limited (Company No. 10103420) is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 (firm reference number 900876).
About OurCrowd
OurCrowd is the online global venture investing platform that empowers institutions and individual accredited investors to invest and engage in emerging technology companies at an early stage. Acclaimed by PitchBook as the most active venture investor in Israel every year since 2013, OurCrowd vets and selects companies across all sectors and stages, invests its own capital, and provides its global platform of over 225,000 registered members from 195 countries with unparalleled access and freedom to co-invest from as little as $10,000 in the companies of their choice.
Founded by CEO Jon Medved in 2013 with the vision of democratizing world-class venture capital investing, OurCrowd has grown rapidly into the world’s leading online venture investing platform and as of 2023 has over $2.2 billion in commitments, and deployed capital into more than 420 portfolio companies and 50 funds across five continents. To date, OurCrowd’s startups have recorded 63 exits including several public market listings: Beyond Meat (BYND), Lemonade (LMND), Innoviz (INVZ), Hub Security (HUB), Arbe (ARBE), Alpha Tau (DRTS), Freightos (CRGO); and numerous high-profile acquisitions: JUMP by Uber, BriefCam by Canon, Argus by Continental, Crosswise by Oracle, Replay by Intel, Corephotonics by Samsung, CyberX by Microsoft, and Kenna Security by Cisco.
OurCrowd builds value for its portfolio companies throughout their lifecycles, providing mentorship, recruiting industry advisors, navigating follow-on rounds and creating growth opportunities through its network of multinational partnerships. For more information: www.ourcrowd.com.
Contacts
PRESS:
Airwallex – [email protected]
OurCrowd – Leah Stern, Partner, Global Communications at [email protected]
