Australia's Airwallex Acquires Chinese company Guangzhou Shang Wu Tong Network Technology

Airwallex, an Australian fintech company, announced on Tuesday that it had acquired Chinese company Guangzhou Shang Wu Tong Network Technology in order to obtain an online payment business licence in China.

The Tencent-backed company also announced that it has become a third-party payment provider in China, giving it greater access to the domestic market.

"To better address the pain points encountered in cross-border transactions between China and the rest of the world, our team will work towards integrating our platform," said Kai Wu, chief revenue officer and general manager of APAC at Airwallex.

Airwallex, which allows customers to issue and pay international invoices and bills via its payments platform, secured a $100 million funding round extension last year, maintaining its $5.5 billion valuation.

The latest approval supplements the company's existing licences in major markets such as Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Airwallex is a multinational financial technology firm that provides financial services as well as software as a service. The company, founded in 2015 in Melbourne, Australia, is a financial services platform that provides foreign exchange transactions to businesses via a proprietary banking network and its API.