📣 News and Announcements

Airwallex Hits $6.2B Valuation—Here’s Why That Matters to Your Margins

The fine print

• Raised $300M Series F at $6.2B valuation

• Total funding now over $1.2B

• Key investors: Square Peg, DST Global, Lone Pine, Blackbird, Airtree, Salesforce Ventures, Visa Ventures

• $720M annualized revenue as of March 2025

• On track to hit $1B annualized revenue in 2025

• $130B+ in annualized payment volume

• Customer base: 150,000+ businesses worldwide

• 250%+ 4-year CAGR in gross profit (Americas & Europe)

Shady’s take

The first place people look when trying to value a business, or understand the market’s valuation of it, is the obvious financials and metrics.

In this case, it’s the $720M in ARR, the 90% YoY growth, the payment volume, etc. That creates the baseline valuation, but that isn’t the only thing. Another business with the same metrics could have a much lower valuation.

The key lies in some less obvious but high-impact factors. One of these is the moat they’ve built. The term "moat" refers to the body of water around castles in the old days that protected against enemies. Today, it’s used in business to describe something that protects your company from competitors.

The moat Airwallex has built is their integration with banking systems across 60+ countries. With key licenses across complex jurisdictions, this reflects years of compliance work that can’t be easily replicated. This moat adds a layer of value on top of the financial metrics and helps justify the higher valuation.

What can you learn from this

Even if you're running a small business, there’s something important here.

Airwallex hit a big valuation and attracted investment by doing a lot more than just growing their revenue quickly. They built things behind the scenes that are hard to copy.

As a small business, you might not be building global payment rails, but you can build your own version of a moat. That could mean creating systems your competitors don’t have, developing deep expertise in a niche, or building strong customer relationships that are tough to break.

The point is: don’t only focus on growth. Also think about what makes your business hard to replace. That’s where long-term value really starts to build.

📣 News and Announcements

Why Shopify’s Q2 Beat Is a Signal for Ecommerce Resilience

The fine print

• Shopify reports continued merchant growth and strong consumer demand, despite tariff concerns

• Only 1% of GMV affected by Chinese imports under the expiring de minimis exemption

• Q2 revenue forecast exceeds Wall Street expectations (mid-20% growth expected vs. 22.4% est.)

• AI assistant Sidekick has doubled monthly users since the start of the year

• Company highlights resilience: “Shopify merchants are better prepared in uncertain times”

• Gross profit forecast slightly below estimates due to cloud infrastructure costs and pricing changes

• Shares dropped ~3% despite overall positive revenue outlook

• Analysts note investors are highly sensitive to any misses amid global tariff uncertainty

Shady’s take

Shopify beating expectations despite all the tariff uncertainty says a lot.

First, consumers are still spending.

Even with potential cost pressures in the background, people aren’t pulling back, they’re still buying from independent brandss. That’s a good sign for small businesses.

Second, it shows how resilient e-commerce can be.

A lot of Shopify merchants rely on global suppliers, so changes like the end of the de minimis rule could’ve been a big hit. But the fact that sales and new merchant signups stayed strong tells me many of them either weren’t impacted, or they adapted fast, found new suppliers, shifted pricing, or focused on higher-margin products.

It’s also a reminder that uncertainty doesn’t always slow things down. Sometimes it actually pushes businesses to sharpen their strategy.

What can you learn from this

Uncertainty is always going to be part of the game, whether it’s tariffs, supply chain issues, or changing platforms. What matters is how quickly you can adapt. The businesses that kept growing on Shopify didn’t wait around. They adjusted fast, stayed close to their customers, and found ways to keep selling.

The takeaway here is that being small can actually be a strength. You’re more nimble. You can test things, shift direction, and make decisions faster than the big guys. So don’t get stuck trying to perfect everything, focus on staying responsive..

Also, the demand is still there.

People are still spending. So as long as you’re offering real value and staying sharp with your operations, there’s still a lot of room to grow, even in a tricky environment.