Airwallex makes senior appointments in finance and HR

Airwallex has announced two senior appointments in Joanne Chin to SVP global head of people and talent, and David Bickernell, global SVP finance.

Joanne Chin, Airwallex

The appointments coincide with the businesses growth and expansion of its global footprint, recently announcing its US$200 million Series E fundraising round, valuing the company at US$4 billion.

Bringing close to a combined four decades of multinational HR and finance experience, the new hires bring expertise to bolster the company's global executive team, an Airwallex spokesperson said.

The global fintech payment platform says it has nearly doubled its headcount this year and now employs over 1,000 people in over 20 locations. 

“With our rapid global expansion, investing in our people and culture as well as driving business efficiencies is important to our continued success,” says Jack Zhang, co-founder and CEO at Airwallex.

“These are exciting times for us at Airwallex, and I am confident our new senior hires will create an immediate and lasting impact in our business and for our people.”

Established in 2015, Airwallex has built a financial infrastructure and platform designed to help businesses manage payments, treasury, and expenses globally.

Culture and growth

"Building a phenomenal culture with strong leadership and talented, passionate people is what I love doing,” says Chin, who said she wants to build a culture that inspires people and drive acceleration at the company. 

Bickernell, meanwhile described the company's goal as helping its customers use the global payments infrastructure to increase market access for businesses of all sizes around the world.

He said he was working closely with Airwallex’s executive team to drive the company’s growth.

These latest appointments follow the recent addition of high-profile executives in its risk and communications departments.

Funding

In September, the company announced it raised US$200 million in an oversubscribed Series E financing round, increasing its valuation to US$4 billion and it follows an extended Series D capital raise earlier this year in March.

This latest round was led by Lone Pine Capital. New investors G Squared and Vetamer Capital also joined the round, alongside existing investors including 1835i Ventures (formerly ANZi), DST Global, Salesforce Ventures and Sequoia Capital China.

This latest round brings US$700 million to the total amount of equity funds raised to date.