Airwallex has raised US$100 million (A$159 million), which it dubbed a “Series E2” while managing to avoid a downturn.

Melbourne’s fintech kept its existing US$5.5 billion (A$8.7 billion) valuation in raising new funds from existing investors Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Lone Pine Capital, Hermitage Capital, 1835i Ventures and Tencent.

Local super-fund HostPlus and a North American pension fund also supported the increase.

The Australian dollar’s sliding value against the greenback means the local valuation of A$8.7 billion is now $1.1 billion more than earlier this year when the first reports emerged that Airwallex had spoken with Visa about the increase.

The fintech’s ability to maintain its valuation is particularly impressive as three months ago, Sweden’s BNPL Klarna saw its valuation drop 85% in just 12 months from $45.6 billion in June 2021 to $6.7 billion. after an $800 million increase in July.

The Australian fintech has now raised a total of $400 million in three tranches of its Series E.

News that Airwallex was on the hunt for a third Series E first appeared in April as it reportedly considered a public listing. Last year it raised A$275 million in a Series E, and two months later it was topped up with the additional A$137 million. That followed the $130 million Series D in 2020.

Airwallex has now raised US$902 million (A$1.46 billion) in the seven years since its inception.

CEO Jack Zhang said they didn’t need to raise, but with valuations of other startups falling, the company will look to take over.

Zhang said the company’s customer base has more than doubled year-over-year, with sales up 184%.

“The valuation underscores investor confidence in Airwallex’s core value and fundamentals, and we are fortunate to have the continued support of our existing investors and the confidence of new investors as we pursue our vision to build the global economic infrastructure for modern become companies. ,” he said.

“The market environment remains challenging for the foreseeable future, and while we remain well capitalized, this additional runway allows us to continue our growth plans and product expansion and hire some of the best talent in the world. By strengthening the breadth of our global reach and product offering, we can better enable our customers to unlock new market opportunities.”

The company plans to bring several new products and services to market in the coming year, including improvements to its expense management platform and a credit solution, in addition to continued market expansion.

“We are building one of the world’s most powerful payment and banking infrastructure in the world,” said Zhang.

The fintech nearly doubled its workforce in 2021 and now employs about 1,000 people in more than 20 locations worldwide.

The company opened in the US late last year and saw the Singaporean entity grant a Major Payment Institution license to expand its offering of financial services.

Airwallex’s capital increases since its launch in 2015.