Visa and Airwallex team on embedded finance for freight platforms

Visa and Airwallex announced a collaboration on July 23 to develop embedded-finance products for freight and shipping platforms, aiming to modernise how businesses in the sector manage payments, working capital and cross-border commerce, according to a joint statement. The partnership lets digital freight platforms integrate payments, transfers and financing tools directly into their existing workflows.

The collaboration pairs Visa’s commercial payments, risk management and acceptance capabilities with Airwallex’s multi-currency infrastructure and platform technology, the companies said. It targets freight platforms, digital forwarders and logistics marketplaces, a sector where transactions often cross several jurisdictions, currencies and counterparties before funds are released.

“Cash sitting in limbo while payments clear across borders is capital that should be funding the next shipment, not stuck in transit,” said Christos Chamberlain, general manager for the United Kingdom and Europe at Airwallex, in the statement.

Alessandro Figueroa, head of new verticals and partnerships for Visa Commercial Solutions in Europe, said many freight businesses still run fragmented and manual payment processes, and that embedding financial services into freight software could simplify payments and improve working capital, according to PYMNTS.

Airwallex, founded in Melbourne, said it serves more than 676,000 businesses directly or through platform customers and holds more than 85 licenses across its markets. The companies said one aim of the collaboration is to create a model that could later be applied to other business sectors with similar operational complexity.