Airwallex's MexPago Acquisition Boosts Fintech Unicorn's Footprint in Latin America

Fintech Unicorn Airwallex acquired MexPago with plans to keep growing in the Latin American market.

On Oct. 19, 2023, Airwallex announced they signing of a definitive agreement to acquire MexPago, a Mexico-based payment service provider. Airwallex and MexPago are both digital services created for worldwide business-to-business transactions.

In an interview with The Latin Times, an Airwallex spokesperson said that currently their main goal is to integrate MexPago with Airwallex and continue to grow in the Americas. According to the press release announcing the acquisition, Airwallex has seen more than 460% year-over-year revenue growth in the region.

"Businesses can benefit from Airwallex's suite of global payments services, including global account issuance, domestic and cross-border money transfer at market-leading rates, multi-currency wallets and online payment acceptance to name a few," the Airwallex spokesperson said. "MexPago offers a similar set of services to companies in Mexico. Airwallex's current offering includes a wallet, integration with local payment methods, payment acquiring and card issuing. MexPago also has a point-of-sale acquiring solution for customers with a brick-and-mortar presence."

The Airwallex spokesperson said that the company's main feature is that they have the broadest geographic coverage in the market. However, despite that, they still operate worldwide in a way that each business partner would in its respective market. Through the MexPago acquisition, they said they can now connect Mexico's local payment infrastructure to Airwallex customers.

"[It's] a vital component of our regional and global growth strategy. Mexico is one of the most important trading partners for the U.S. and a vibrant high-growth economy, and our customers in the US and around the world have been asking for us to offer services in Mexico," the Airwallex spokesperson said.

In addition to the demand from customers, they said the combination of MexPago's capabilities in Mexico and Airwallex's global financial infrastructure would bring opportunities for Mexican companies to operate globally and expand into new markets. It also allows companies from all over to operate in Mexico.

The Airwallex spokesperson said now its customers will gain financial infrastructure coverage in Mexico, including bank accounts, issuing, payouts, payments, and improved access to Mexican Local Payment Methods such as SPEI and OXXO payments.

The spokesperson said it's too early to tell whether the companies would merge as one. They also said each company will continue to focus on their respective products and to serve their customers independently.

The founder and CEO of MexPago, Luis Castillejos Ordaz, will remain on the MexPago team. The spokesperson said he and his team will collaborate with the Airwallex team to integrate the two companies and facilitate business growth in Mexico. They said this would ensure a smooth transition of ownership and a successful integration.