Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 98% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Airwallex originated from cross-border payment issues with co-founder Max Lee

Jack Zhang · Airwallex CEO & Co-Founder, Jack Zhang: The Angel That Turned $1M into $1BN · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · May 26, 2025 · at 14:18

Jack Zhang is the co-founder and CEO of Airwallex. He recounts how managing side ventures with co-founder Max Lee highlighted cross-border payment friction, leading to Airwallex's founding.

0:00 / 0:18exact quote · 19.0s

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“One of the guys running that for me was my co-founder Max Lee. He's the head of product design. He went become architect and then started the real estate business with me started the coffee shop with me and which, you know, we found the foreign change and international payments issue. That's lead us to funding Airwallex”

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The claim, plainly

Airwallex co-founders Jack Zhang and Max Lee previously operated a real estate business and a coffee shop together, where foreign exchange and cross-border payment issues inspired them to found Airwallex.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Public records, company history, and media interviews confirm that Airwallex co-founders Jack Zhang and Max Lee operated a real estate investment business in Melbourne before opening a café called Tukk & Co. While running the café, they imported supplies internationally and faced high foreign exchange fees and delays, which directly inspired them to create Airwallex in 2015.

Jack Zhang and Max Lee operated a real estate investment/development business in Melbourne prior to founding Airwallex.
They co-owned and operated the café Tukk & Co. in Melbourne, importing coffee cups and supplies from overseas.
High FX fees and transfer delays encountered while importing supplies for the café directly prompted the founding of Airwallex.

Checked against

[1] thewantrepreneurshow.com [2] backscoop.com [3] forbes.com.au [4] substack.com [5] rootdata.com [6] antler.co [7] thevccorner.com [8] businessmodelcanvastemplate.com

assessed as of 2026-07-23

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

Airwallex Jack Zhang Max Lee

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Airwallex originated from cross-border payment issues with co-founder Max Lee

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