Melbourne-founded fintech Airwallex is officially a unicorn after closing a $US100 million Series C funding round as it looks to conquer the world.

The huge funding round valued the cross-border payments company at more than $US1 billion, officially making it a mythical unicorn in the start-up world - a company worth a billion dollars.

Airwallex was founded in 2015 and enables low-cost, high-speed international payments through its end-to-end platform for businesses to move money around the world. Its clients include MasterCard, JD.com and Tencent.

Through the Airwallex platform, users can create international bank accounts instantly, access interbank exchange rates and send money through local and international clearing networks to more than 130 countries.

The latest funding round was led by DST Global, a VC giant which has previously backed the likes of Facebook, Airbnb and Spotify.

It brings the total amount raised by the fintech to more than $US200 million. The latest cash injection will be used for further productive development, and to support expansions into the US, UK, Europe and South-east Asia.

Airwallex CEO and co-founder Jack Zhang said the team has a clear vision for the future.

“We started Airwallex because we knew there was a better way to make global payments,” Zhang said. “Airwallex is proud to free businesses from many of the traditional barriers that have made international transactions so difficult.
“Our mission is to build worldwide, technology-driven financial infrastructure that will help our customers.”

The startup also has the long term aspiration to become the “operating system of global banking”.

Australian firm Square Peg Ventures also participated in the funding round.

“In just three years, Jack Zhang, Lucy Liu and their co-founders have assembled a highly capable, experienced and technical team who have built the global digital payment network of the future,” Square Peg Capital partner Paul Bassat said. “It is a privilege to support their mission as they redefine financial markets for the better of their customers in Australia, Asia and beyond.”

The Series C raise follows a $US3 million seed round, a $US13 million Series A followed by a $US6 million top up, and an $80 million Series B round.

Airwallex is believed to be Australia’s third unicon, following in the footsteps of Atlassian and Canva.

It marks the first time the company has publicly disclosed its valuation.