Qantas teams up with Aussie unicorn Airwallex to offer business rewards users new system for currency transactions

“The feedback was very clear that this was a service that was going to give these small businesses a benefit,” she said. “Discussions with Airwallex have been going on for a good time now, discussing how they can really bring to market a service and utility that is great for the business through QBR.”

Ms Wirth said this was the start of a “long-term” partnership with Airwallex, with the aim to bring more of the company’s products to Qantas customers in the coming years.

Airwallex became Australia’s fastest tech company to reach unicorn status – a start-up valued at over $1 billion – in 2019. It has continued to raise money since, and in September cracked a $5 billion valuation after a capital raise.

Airwallex was founded in 2015 and started out providing businesses with a cheaper, faster way to make cross-border payments.

Its services have since expanded to include bank accounts, borderless cards (provided in partnership with Visa), online payments acceptance and a suite of application programming interfaces.

Airwallex founder Jack Zhang said the partnership with Qantas followed a successful trial of the Business Money product last year.

“From our perspective, it is super exciting to help Qantas Business Rewards launch with a new program,” Mr Zhang said. “About 70 per cent of the small businesses in Australia are looking to expand their business overseas in the next year, there is no better time to work with Qantas to empower them.”

The announcement came as Australia re-opened its border to international travellers this week. “It gives us a great opportunity with businesses starting to think about travel again,” she said.

Qantas will report its financial results for the six months to December 31 on Thursday.