Jack Zhang

Airwallex was founded by its CEO Jack Zhang and four friends after a personal experience of paying exorbitant foreign exchange fees for online purchases. The company, founded in Melbourne and headquartered in Hong Kong, is a global payments platform that helps businesses manage and make international payments quickly, transparently and cost-efficiently, without the constraints of the traditional financial system. It’s a simple idea but a much-needed one, and it has caught fire accordingly, with Airwallex achieving unicorn status and scaling into a global fintech leader.

Born in China, Zhang moved to Melbourne as a teenager. He began his career as a software engineer for various financial services companies in the UK and Australia while launching numerous entrepreneurial ventures on the side, the most significant among them being Melbourne property development company Hohen, before establishing Airwallex in 2015.

Under Zhang’s leadership, Airwallex crossed US$1 billion in annualised revenue in 2025 while committing US$1 billion toward expanding its US operations through 2029. In June 2026, the fintech giant secured a US$320 million Series H funding round, elevating its valuation to US$11 billion.