Airwallex CEO Jack Zhang says a lack of resources means he can’t compete with the likes of Canva or Atlassian in work perks.
The chief executive of Australian financial technology firm Airwallex has acknowledged HR issues at his $8 billion company, saying a lack of resources compared with the likes of Canva and Atlassian has made it difficult for it to offer the same level of employee experience as those firms.
“I think, you know, as a start-up we definitely have a lot of issues. And investing in the people function, in terms of career development, flexibility, support … We just don’t have the resources. And people complain that we don’t have lunch when people come to the office, we just don’t have the money to do that.”
“Canva is just a lot bigger in size, and they have the resources to invest and are able to provide a better employee experience. We just don’t have the financial resource to do so, and I don’t have, personally, the time to do so,” Zhang said.Credit:“I think as you continue to scale the business, you have more resources, you have more financial support so that you’re more comfortable providing that sort of support.
Airwallex is one of the nation’s most promising technology businesses. It’s one of just nine Australian-founded “unicorns” – billion-dollar privately held technology start-ups – and recently surpassed $US100 billion in annual processing volume, up 73 per cent year-on-year. The company achieved cash flow positivity at the end of 2023, and now has $US100 million in funds under management for its “Airwallex Yield” product, which offers rates of more than double that of Australia’s big four banks.
More immediately, one of Airwallex’s next steps is a likely IPO and Zhang is now eyeing the second half of 2026 for a public listing, which he said would probably be on the New York Stock Exchange, given he’s based there.“We’ll be approaching a billion in ARR next year and in 2026 it should be well over a billion,” he said. “We’d be a significant business going public, but we might not go. We always have that optionality because the company is profitable.
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