Is Airwallex Undervalued or is Stripe Overvalued?

About this episode

Jack Zhang discusses the long-term strategy of building Airwallex's financial infrastructure and the implications of turning down a major acquisition offer from Stripe.

In this episode, we talk with Airwallex cofounder and CEO Jack Zhang about building a global financial infrastructure company by taking the long, unglamorous path. Rather than layering on top of existing banking systems, Airwallex spent a decade acquiring licenses, integrating with local payment rails, and constructing its own end-to-end network for moving money across borders. Jack shares why he turned down a $1.2 billion acquisition offer from Stripe early on, how that decision shaped the company’s trajectory, and why he believes this hard-won infrastructure is becoming a major advantage in the age of AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Hosts: Connie Loizos, Alex Gove

Guest: Jack Zhang

Topics covered

• financial infrastructure
• Airwallex
• Stripe
• acquisition
• AI
• payment systems

Keywords

• Airwallex
• Stripe
• financial infrastructure
• acquisition
• payment rails
• AI
• global payments

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Airwallex, Stripe

More episodes of StrictlyVC Download

• Runway and HOLYWATER TECH: Two AI Companies Trying to Upend Entertainment · June 9, 2026 · 31 min
• What VCs think about SpaceX, AI-valuation fever and where to bet next · June 2, 2026 · 29 min
• Eclipse Ventures Co-Founder Lior Susan's Insights Into a $1.3B Bet on Physical AI · May 26, 2026 · 21 min
• Inside Stanford's Secret Tech Elite (And the Freshman Who Exposed It) · May 19, 2026 · 28 min
• CEO Amjad Masad on How Replit Is Changing Who Gets to Build Software · May 13, 2026 · 19 min
• How secondary markets are pricing SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic before they go public · April 7, 2026 · 25 min