Airwallex founder reveals he once turned down a $1.2 billion acquisition offer from Stripe

On December 9, Jack Zhang, founder and CEO of payments startup Airwallex, stated, “In 2018, Stripe offered to acquire us for $1.2 billion, when our revenue was only $2 million. The valuation Stripe gave was 600 times our revenue, and based on Stripe’s current share price, I personally could have made over $2 billion. But the team declined. Now, we have raised $330 million, with a valuation of $8 billion and annual recurring revenue (ARR) reaching $1 billion.” Previous reports indicate that Airwallex raised $330 million in its latest funding round, bringing its valuation to $8 billion. According to a statement released Monday, this valuation is about 30% higher than the last round six months ago. The round was led by Addition, with participation from institutions including Activant, Lingotto, and TIAA Ventures.