INTELLIGENCE · PERSON DOSSIER
UPDATED 2026-08-13Jack Zhang
Founders & CEOs
Airwallex · USA
Net worth
About US$1.3bn (June 2026)
Stake in Airwallex
About 12%
Capital raised into the business
$1.8bn total funding
Giving and founder support vehicle
Latitude 37
Identity & Ownership
Current role
Co-founder and Chief Executive, Airwallex
Chief executive since founding the company in 2015; Airwallex names him "Co-founder and CEO" on its Series H announcement.
Born
Qingdao, China
Aged 41 as of June 2026. He left Qingdao for Melbourne alone at 15, staying with an Australian host family.
Nationality
Australian citizen, born in China
In his own words: "I was born in China. I am a proud Australian citizen."
Company headquarters
Singapore and San Francisco (dual)
Airwallex added San Francisco as a dual global headquarters alongside Singapore in December 2025, with more than $1bn earmarked for US operations to 2029.
Education
Computer science, University of Melbourne (graduated 2007)
He worked four jobs while studying: restaurant dishwasher by day, bartender at night, overnight petrol-station attendant, and lemon packer in factory summers.
Company founded
Airwallex, 2015, Melbourne
Founded with Max Li, Lucy Liu, Xijing Dai and Ki-lok Wong. As of 2026 the company reports 85+ licences and registrations, 27 offices, 2,300 staff and 200,000+ business customers.
Scale of the business
$1.3bn annualised revenue and $287bn annualised transaction volume (March 2026)
Revenue up 74% year on year; transaction volume up more than 120%. 676,000+ businesses on the platform.
Personal Wealth & Holdings
Net worth
About US$1.3bn (June 2026)
Forbes estimate published alongside the Series H round, based on his retained stake in Airwallex at an $11bn valuation.
Stake in Airwallex
About 12%
Forbes reported he still held roughly 12% after eight funding rounds. Treat as an estimate: Airwallex is private and does not publish its register.
Capital raised into the business
$1.8bn total funding
Airwallex's own figure after the June 2026 Series H. The company has raised across eight priced rounds since 2016.
Giving and founder support vehicle
Latitude 37
Airwallex programme launched April 2026 committing A$100,000 of equity-free capital to each of 10+ Australian AI startups a year, about $1m annually. Fronted by Zhang and president Lucy Liu.
Background
Moved from Qingdao to Melbourne alone at 15
He barely spoke English on arrival and lived with a host family. Shortly afterwards his parents ran into financial trouble in China and he had to fund his own university education.
Four jobs at once while at university
Dishwasher, bartender, overnight petrol-station attendant and summer lemon packer.
Foreign exchange and technology roles at ANZ and NAB
TechCrunch described him at the 2016 seed round as "formerly with ANZ and NAB banks". He has said he began his career in 2007 at an investment company and wrote code on bank trading floors.
More than 10 businesses started between the ages of 25 and 30
A cafe, a phone-case business, an import-export company, a project management firm and a real-estate development group among them. His own verdict: "Every single one was making money but none of them really had social impact."
A Melbourne coffee business run with co-founder Max Li
The pair imported beans and packaging from overseas, which meant wiring money abroad. The cost and delay of doing that through correspondent banking became the Airwallex thesis.
The cost of cross-border payments through SWIFT
Zhang to CNBC: "We thought, why can't we build a payment system in parallel to SWIFT and fundamentally change how money moves around the world?"
Moved to Hong Kong in 2017 to open the company's office there
Airwallex shifted its headquarters from Melbourne to Hong Kong in 2018, later to Singapore, and added San Francisco in December 2025.
An average of 100 hours a week for more than 20 years, since cut to about 80
He frames work in athletic terms — training, recovery and performance — and says he does not separate work and life in the traditional sense.
Paul Bassat of Square Peg
On Square Peg's 2017 investment: "He's one of the reasons I did this startup; I can learn a lot of operational stuff from him."
Notable Coverage
22 items
$320m Series H values Airwallex at $11bn
Zhang argues the AI era has no home market
Zhang publicly rebuts claims that the Chinese government can reach Airwallex's US customer data
This item is the subject's own response. The underlying allegations were made publicly by a third party and Airwallex disputes them.
Airwallex acquires Leapfin to move from payments into the accounting close
Bank Negara Malaysia grants e-money issuing and Class A licences
Airwallex Yield passes $1bn in assets under administration and launches in the US
Zhang says an Airwallex IPO will not happen before 2028
AUSTRAC orders an external audit of Airwallex's anti-money laundering controls
Airwallex said it would cooperate fully, that it was "confident that our AML/CTF compliance program is fit for purpose", and that a 2025 external audit had already validated its Australian programme. Zhang's statement: "We have zero tolerance for financial crime or illicit activity of any kind on our network."
Airwallex enters South Korea by acquiring Paynuri
US senator asks the Attorney General to investigate Airwallex over Chinese data-exposure risk
Zhang rejected the premise, saying US customer data is stored in the United States, that staff in China and Hong Kong cannot access it, and that Tencent holds a passive stake of under 10% with no board seat.
$330m Series G at $8bn, and San Francisco becomes a second global headquarters
$300m Series F values Airwallex at $6.2bn
Airwallex reaches a $500m annualised revenue run rate and says it will be IPO-ready by 2026
Airwallex becomes the second foreign firm after PayPal to hold a Chinese payment licence
Airwallex launches in Singapore and starts building out Southeast Asia
$200m round values Airwallex at $4bn
Hong Kong police freeze about $26m of Airwallex-held funds during a fraud investigation
Airwallex said the funds belonged to customers implicated by third parties and the money was returned after the court ruling.