Blackbird, Australia’s VC juggernaut joins the Airwallex party with a reported $60M investment as the fintech sits at $6 billion-plus valuation.
Blackbird Swoops
Blackbird Ventures has finally swiped right on the $6 billion-plus fintech. The VC firm is reportedly investing a hefty $60 million, marking one of its biggest single cheques ever.
@blackbirdvc has added another unicorn to its portfolio, but unlike Canva, has come late to the party with plans to tip $60 million into fintech @airwallex.https://t.co/flkTlPJRcU
The news, reported by Startup Daily and AFR, sees Blackbird join a list of other serious players when it comes to supporting the innovative startup.
A Long Time Coming
Blackbird’s late-stage love-in follows a $100 million Series E extension round in late 2023 that valued Airwallex at $5.6 billion. Thanks to forex fun and cross-border payments booming, Airwallex is soaring in value, as per Bloomberg
Sources close to the matter told Startup Daily that the check has been signed, sealed, and quietly delivered—well after the party started.
The Next Step for Airwallex?
This deal could signal the next phase in Airwallex’s global playbook. With backing from Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Tencent, and now Blackbird, to name but a few the company has enough firepower to make serious moves in the U.S. and Europe, where fintechs are currently either merging, folding, or plotting IPOs.
Meanwhile, Blackbird gets to tell its LPs that it bagged a unicorn.
For more stories around fintech, visit our dedicated section.
Cross-Border Payments
Cross-border payments refer to transactions involving individuals, companies, banks or settlement institutions operating in at least two different countries.The concept of cross-border payment is not new however, despite its rise in importance in the 21st century.New technology and the growth of blockchain has brought the term cross-border payment into our daily conversations.Cross-border payments are an essential term that refers to any transaction involving private individuals’ companies, bank
Unicorn
Unicorns represent privately held startup companies whose value exceeds $1 billion. The term itself was coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee back in 2013, with Unicorns since assuming the gold standard of companies.At the time of writing, approximately 465 unicorns exist, with standouts becoming ubiquitous in everyday life. This includes Ant Financial, DiDi, Airbnb, Stripe, Lyft, and Palantir Technologies, among many others.While all wildly successful, many unicorns are themselves the product