“Not for everyone”: Lucy Liu on “high pressure” startup life as Airwallex revenue grows 93%

Melbourne unicorn Airwallex has reported a 93% year-on-year revenue increase across its Australia and New Zealand operations. According to co-founder and president Lucy Liu, new product releases and strategic technological advancements have contributed to this.

But there are still questions around the cost to employees, after suggestions Airwallex’s rapid growth has challenged staff wellbeing.

Airwallex is ‘Yield’ing results

“We’ve launched quite a few new products that have been really exciting and gaining a lot of traction,” Liu told SmartCompany this week.

This has included a startup-focused product as well as Airwallex Yield, which soft-launched in late 2023 and is set for a full launch this year.

Yield allows businesses to earn returns on foreign currency without needing an overseas bank account, offering significantly higher rates compared to major banks.

The majority of Airwallex’s revenue is still coming from its transaction-based products such as payouts and payment acceptance. but Liu says the addition of Yield has been beneficial.

“Adding Yield made sure that our customer stickiness improved a lot. Because our rates are a lot higher than the big banks — if our customers already have their money in our wallets they might as well keep it there for a bit longer,” she says.

During the soft launch last year, Yield offered returns of 3.39% on AUD balances and 4.07% on USD balances. At the time that had jumped to 3.63% for AUD balances but had dropped to 3.99% for USD balances.

“From our database, we actually realised that a lot of our customers are transferring money in simply for this product,” Liu explains.

According to Liu, customers appreciate the higher returns, particularly because they can’t access the same cheaper rates as larger businesses with the big four banks.

“Fintechs are really providing a more targeted solution for the smaller customers, especially because, obviously for the enterprises, they have more negotiating power with the banks,” Liu says.

Airwallex also points to tech advancements in its recent success, particularly the use of AI and automation.

According to the company, this has allowed for improvements such as cheaper real-time payments. This currently sits at 52%, with 85% of payments on the platform being same-day.

The most important area of implementation has been risk management.

“A lot of the manual work has been replaced by more algorithms and more automation so that we can basically do less of the manual checks,” says Liu.

Liu also adds the use of AI has improved customer onboarding processes, ensuring quicker and more efficient responses.

The integration of AI has affected the Airwallex workforce, however, Liu says it has also resulted in jobs in other areas of the business.

“I’m not saying that AI can completely cut down ‘x’ amount of workforce. I think we’re making improvements and at the end of the day, the easier it is for our customer to use, the more likely the complexity on the back end is increasing,” she says.

“On the operation side, we definitely saved a few FTEs. But then that FTE has been gone to other types of projects that we were working on. So it’s time-saving that’s actually reinvested into other things.”

Airwallex’s growing pains

This rapid growth hasn’t been without it challenges. Past reports have suggested Airwallex’s success has come at the expense of employee wellbeing. According to the Australian Financial Review (AFR), the high-pressure environment is said to have led to significant staff turnover in legal, risk and compliance departments.

Former employees spoke to the AFR about the demanding work environment, with the publication also citing an internal presentation from the third quarter of 2022 that revealed Airwallex had lost 10% of its staff in the previous three months.

Staff have also previously expressed scepticism about the authenticity of positive Glassdoor reviews, particularly after a customer experience and operations executive had time allocated in their calendar in September 2023 to “schedule a team to put Glassdoor comments”.

Liu acknowledges the issues, but also points to the wider industry.

“We are very aware of our growing pains. We don’t have ridiculous turnover compared to our peers. I think this is an issue that we’re working on, but it is also an industry-wide issue,” she says.

“We’ve really been working on how we can make sure that everyone is feeling transparent and also feeling valued at Airwallex.

Liu also suggests not everyone will be the right fit for working at a startup, while others may enjoy the challenges and flexibility.

“Turnover in startups is quite common, unfortunately,” Liu says.

“It’s quite high pressure, it’s not for everyone.

“I think maybe it’s for the best if people figure out it’s not for them and we have an amicable ending to this relationship.”

What do employees need to thrive in startups?

Nine years into the business, Liu says there are certain traits that stick out when it comes to startup longevity for employees.

“I think the traits of people who really fit in are more obvious to me now — people who have a lot of resilience, hustle, and the ability to embrace changes,” she says.

“There are high expectations, but there are high expectations anywhere that is trying to grow. It’s about finding those who are passionate and fit the dynamic environment of a startup.”

To address concerns, Airwallex has introduced several initiatives aimed at improving employee engagement, growth and wellbeing. The company has also introduced regular regional and global town halls.

A recent engagement survey showed a 37% increase from Q2 2023 to Q2 2024 in the number of ANZ employees feeling proud to work at Airwallex.

Liu also points out the longevity of some staff within the business.

“Despite all the issues we have been facing about people leaving within the first year, we also have a tremendous number of people who have been with us since 2016,” Liu says.

“So like I said, it’s either something you’re really passionate about or maybe sometimes it’s just not working out.”

The road to IPO

Looking ahead, Airwallex is preparing for a potential IPO by 2026. However, the company is still not committing publicly to the date.

“2026 is when we want to be ready, but whether it’s actually going to happen then or later, we’re not sure. We’re still closely watching the market and the macro environments and making sure that we are in a position to do so when we want to,” Liu says.

Instead, Airwallex is looking to be ready for a public offering.

“In terms of IPO readiness, it’s more around building up to that fully transparent corporate governance, financial and legal models — requirements that are necessary for being listed for us,” Liu says.

“We have very healthy cash flow, we were cash flow positive last year… it’s more around the social responsibility as well as the public image associated with being listed.”

Navigating the regulatory landscape is crucial for Airwallex, particularly given that it has faced scrutiny over compliance and anti-money laundering controls in the past, including audits that revealed lapses in staff probity checks and issues with improperly flagged customers. 

“We’ve always been very open about what we’re doing with regulations. We have a very big regulatory compliance team that’s supporting this and working together with our tech team to make sure there’s legal compliance as well as technical compliance.” Liu says.

Liu also points to regulators being aware of new product launches, such as Yield, and Airwallex’s discussions with various governmental and regulatory bodies regarding the future of compliance and regulation.

“We are having constant meetings with various regulators on what’s the next step and what’s happening in the market to make sure that we’re aligned,” Liu says.

“I think we’re at the level where we can also contribute to how these new rules are being set out.

“Especially with product launches like Yield, we double-checked and triple-checked before the actual launch. The regulators are fully aware of our launches and anything new that is happening.”

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