ANZ’s VC hedge, 1835i, cashes in its Airwallex stake for $67 million

The venture arm of embattled Big Four bank ANZ has offloaded its stake in international payments fintech Airwallex for $67 million, just five years after first investing,

1835i sold its US$44 million stake to Airwallex founders and executives in a deal that adds nothing to the company’s cash balance. All up they nabbed US$70m (A$106m) in shares in secondary sales.

The company was unavailable for comment on the deal by publication time.

While the valuation on the sale wasn’t disclosed, 1835i had around 1% of the business prior to $232 million in a Series F.at a valuation close to A$10 billion, in May this year, so the price paid most likely reflects the valuation at the 2022 round, depending on dilution from the Series F. Alongside the raise, another US$150m (A$232m) worth of shares owned by early investors also changed hands in a secondary market sale. The 1835i stake was not part of that sale.

The VC, set up in 2018, first joined the Airwallex cap table in April 2020 during a $254 million Series D when still called ANZ Ventures, topped up 5 months later with another $57 million. The business was valued at US$1.8 billion at the time.

Eight months later in 2021, the fund, now called 1835i, was part of a $137m top up Series E when the valuation more than doubled to A$7.6 billion (US$5.5bn) valuation following on from a US$200 million (A$275m) round just two beforehand.

The cash-ravenous fintech took on another $160m in the 2nd encore of its Series E in 2022, with 1835i chipping in to build its holding to around 1% ahead of plans for an public float in 2026.

1835i and the ANZ did not respond to Startup Daily’s request for comment. Later in the day, it emerged that one its other key investments, consumer cashback platform Cashrewards had been shuttered immediately because the bank was unhappy with its performance. 1835i had poured more than $100m into the fintech.

ANZ will shed 3500 jobs in the next 12 months as part of a major restructure under new CEO Nuno Matos. The moves suggest a rationalisation of 1835i.

In a statement from cofounder and CEO Jack Zhang, who is currently travelling overseas, he said: “The leadership team at Airwallex strongly believes that the company has an incredibly strong growth trajectory ahead of it and this purchase is a show of confidence from all of us.”

The leadership team raised new debt to cover the cost of the secondary sales.