Airwallex wants Singapore to know it is staying put. The cross-border payments firm said on Wednesday it will invest more than SGD2 billion (about US$1.5 billion) in the city-state over the next five years and grow its local headcount from over 750 to more than 1,000.
The move cements Singapore as one of its two global co-headquarters, alongside San Francisco.
The pledge coincided with the official opening of its expanded office at Guoco Tower in Tanjong Pagar, which the company describes as Singapore’s tallest building. A new floor on level 35 is now occupied and another is due in early 2027, taking Airwallex’s local footprint to more than 80,000 sq ft across four floors.
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On paper, it is a hefty vote of confidence at an awkward moment. The US1.5 billion figure is roughly three times what every Singapore fintech raised combined in H1 2026. That half-year haul, US$499 million across 53 deals, was the city-state’s weakest first-half fintech showing in close to a decade. Nearly two-thirds of it came from a single cheque: Airwallex’s own Series H.
What US$1.5 billion actually buys
Airwallex did not break the figure down. The release says the money will support workforce expansion, product and technology capabilities, and the strengthening of “global and regional operations”. That is a broad bucket. Over five years, it could easily absorb salaries, office leases and compliance costs that a fast-growing company would incur anyway.
The hiring target deserves the same scrutiny. Adding roughly 250 roles over five years works out to about 50 a year. By comparison, Airwallex’s global headcount went from more than 2,300 when it announced its US$320 million Series H in June to more than 2,700 today. That is some 400 people in about five months. Singapore is growing, but it is not where most of the new desks are going.
What the company stresses instead is the kind of jobs. Airwallex says it will build “specialised, high-value capabilities” in product development, engineering and AI.
The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), which worked with the company on the expansion, struck the same note. “We welcome Airwallex’s continued investment in Singapore, which will significantly increase its footprint and anchor more product and AI capabilities here,” said Herman Loh, Senior Vice President and Co-Head, Digital Industry Singapore at EDB.
That is the more meaningful signal. Singapore’s pitch to global firms has long rested on being where regional decisions get made. Anchoring engineering and AI work, rather than just sales and compliance teams, is what keeps that pitch credible as other financial centres court the same companies.
Ninety per cent, of what?
The growth numbers are eye-catching. Airwallex Singapore reported 90 per cent year-on-year growth in both revenue and total transaction volume in H1 2026. It did not disclose absolute figures, so it is hard to tell how much of that is a modest base compounding quickly.
Group-level numbers offer some perspective. In June, Airwallex said it had reached US$1.3 billion in annualised revenue in March, up 74 per cent, and US$287 billion in annualised transaction volume, up more than 120 per cent. The periods are not like-for-like, but Singapore appears to be outpacing the group on revenue while trailing it on volume.
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The company credits demand from local businesses that want their finances in one place. “Singapore SMEs increasingly value integrated financial solutions that bring their financial operations together on one platform,” said Lionel Tan, Head of SME and Growth at Airwallex. He added that interest in AI tools for managing finances is also rising.
The customers it names are telling. Far East Flora, Stryv, Circles, Moom Health, ZENXIN Organic and Chronos Agency span floristry, food, telecoms, health and marketing. That mix suggests Airwallex is reaching well beyond venture-backed startups into traditional SMEs taking their first steps overseas.
A crowded corridor out of Singapore
Airwallex is hardly alone in treating Singapore as a launchpad. Homegrown unicorn Nium has been pushing into stablecoin rails, most recently by acquiring Cypher. Circle’s US$400 million deal for Tazapay showed that stablecoin giants want a slice of regional flows too. Aspire courts the same SMEs with business accounts and spend tools, while Stripe, Wise and Adyen fight for merchants.
Airwallex’s answer is regulatory depth. It holds more than 85 licences worldwide and runs its own settlement integrations. It has also shown it will buy its way into markets rather than wait, as with its acquisition of Paynuri in South Korea.
From Singapore, the firm is expanding into Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. In these markets, payment habits, foreign exchange rules and licensing regimes differ sharply, and cross-border payments remain fragmented enough that licences matter more than marketing.
A co-headquarters is a promise, not a guarantee
“We’re not just expanding our presence in Singapore, we’re investing in the talent, technology and capabilities that will power our next phase of global growth,” said Arnold Chan, General Manager, Asia-Pacific.
Also Read: Before the licence: What Singapore’s regulated institutions ask a fintech partner first
The open question is how much decision-making weight “co-headquarters” really carries. Dual-HQ structures tend to tilt over time. Airwallex earmarked its Series G to power US expansion, so San Francisco will exert a strong pull.
Still, in a year when fintech capital in Singapore has thinned, a company committing multi-year spending, four floors in a landmark tower and AI engineering roles is a signal EDB will gladly amplify. The real test comes in 2031: whether the 1,000 jobs materialise, and how many of them build products rather than sell them.
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