Airwallex’s billionaire cofounder and CEO Jack Zhang plans to annually back 10 Australian founders aged 25 or under who are building AI startups, in a new program that will see them score $100,000 each in equity free capital.

The yearly program, named Latitude 37 – after Melbourne, where Airwallex began – will give 10 founders access to the fintech’s global network, as well as an immersion tour in San Francisco and Singapore where the company is now headquartered, as well as direct exposure to its AI-native infrastructure.

Responding to ‘uneven’ AI funding

“The capital is equity-free because the first year is when ownership gets given away cheapest and protected the least,” Zhang wrote on social media.

“I want these founders to keep theirs.

“… Early-stage funding – particularly in AI – remains uneven.

“Too many founders rely on overseas capital too early, on terms that don’t serve them.

“Too many promising ideas die in the first year because the founder can’t afford to keep the lights on while they find product-market fit. That’s the gap I want to help close.”

The Airwallex boss said AI “is a fundamental rewiring of how software is built, how businesses operate, and how value is created”, with the cost of launching a startup also reduced.

“A 14-person company in Brisbane or Adelaide can now compete against a 1,400-person incumbent in ways that were impossible two years ago,” Zhang said.

“AI is a force multiplier of productivity, not a substitute for the people who know their domain deeply.”


Jack Zhang says successful program applicants will also be offered immersion tours in San Francisco and Singapore. Image: Airwallex

‘Australian founders already think globally’

Zhang said he wants Australian startups to play a role in the global conversation around AI and avoid some of the challenges his fintech faced.

“Looking back, the things that felt like disadvantages when we started Airwallex turned out to be the source of our edge,” he said.

“We weren’t part of the Silicon Valley ecosystem, so we had to do many things in hard mode including raising capital, finding product-market fit, and recruiting.

“… The companies that will define the AI era are not just the foundational model labs in San Francisco.

“They’re the platforms that take AI and make it useful in the real economy.

“Australian founders already think globally from day one.

“Latitude 37 is Airwallex’s commitment to making sure the next generation of those founders has the capital, the networks, and the support to get there.”

Registrations of interest for Latitude 37 are expected to open in late May via its forthcoming website.

In January, federal financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC ordered Airwallex to appoint an external auditor to assess whether the payment platform “is meeting its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations, following concerns about potential non-compliance”.

The company later said it "will be co-operating fully with AUSTRAC's requirement".

This article is republished with permission from Startup Daily. You can read the original here.