Airwallex to give away $84m worth of shares to fund next generation of entrepreneurs

Lucy Liu – who co-founded Airwallex a decade ago in a Melbourne cafe – says its share giveaway aims to motivate students to start their own companies and build a ‘pipeline of talent locally’.

Airwallex co-founders (from left) Xijing Dai, Jack Zhang, Lucy Liu, Max Li have joined the Pledge 1% movement, setting aside $84m worth of the company’s equity to philanthropic projects.

Airwallex founders will give 1 per cent of the company – or $US56m ($84m) worth of its shares – to charity and programs aimed at supporting the next generation of innovators and start-ups.

The fintech – which was valued at $US5.6bn and has been disrupting the big banks – has struck a partnership with the Pledge 1% program, joining Atlassian, Canva, Salesforce and other tech titans who have backed the cause.

Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar, and Airwallex investor, co-founded the movement almost a decade ago to encourage companies to “bake philanthropy into their DNA”.

Airwallex co-founder Lucy Liu says the company had been working on way to give back to the community “for a while”, including investing $3m in a partnership with the University of Melbourne, to increase Australia’s tech talent pool.

“We’ve always been passionate about community service. Our partnership with University of Melbourne has been going on for a while, and we just want to make it more formalised. We want to be more committed to the social impact programs that we’re doing at Airwallex,” Ms Liu said.

Airwallex co-founder Lucy Liu says the company wants to build a pipeline of tech talent locally.

The Pledge 1% movement urges companies to set aside corporate equity as early as possible, saying “not only is it easier to commit when you have fewer cooks in the kitchen – i.e. fewer investors/a cleaner cap table – but it also sets the tone for your current/future funders and employees on where your priorities”.

Mr Farquhar co-founded Pledge 1% when Atlassian was worth about $US3.3bn. Its market value has since surged to $US60.96bn.

His idea was to enable staff to donate shares into a trust structure, in a system not unlike superannuation, in which staff would donate shares from day one and then receive a tax deduction once those shares were distributed.

“At the moment you don’t donate shares that are worth nothing, because you get no tax deduction, but with this scheme we’d get people like the Macquarie Bank and all sorts of start-ups interested,” Ms Farquhar said when he founded the program.

Scott Farquhar co-founded the Pledge 1% movement almost a decade ago.

On Monday, he said he appreciated the model Airwallex had developed for the program, saying it would “serve as a catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship and to empower Airwallex employees to be part of the movement.”

Younger workers are demanding their employers give more back to communities via philanthropy or volunteering, valuing purpose over perks. A Deloitte study revealed that as many 44 per cent of Gen Zs and 40 per cent of Millennials turned down jobs which did not align with values or beliefs, which has added pressure to the tech industry facing a chronic shortfall of workers.

“It’s being purposeful and being able to make sure that each one of the Airwallex employees are devoting their time to what they want to do,” Ms Liu said.

“It’s also reflecting on their personal goals as well. But we do also have organised volunteer days so if they don’t really have anything that’s too specific, we can then organise them to give back, as well as a company.”

The partnership with Melbourne University has funded scholarships for 43 students – 40 per cent of whom identified as female and 56 per cent were international students, Ms Liu said.

She said Airwallex has also donated $150,000 to help an additional 65 students pay for non-tuition related costs associated with their education.

“It’s all about building a pipeline of talent locally,” Ms Liu said.

“Some of the previous internships and grad programs we offered we actually gave a … (job) offer to the majority of people who participated in it.

“It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight. We put this money in and all of a sudden everyone decides to be tech entrepreneurs or engineers. But at least it’s showcasing the possibility where if they are interested, then can join this industry and be proud of it.”

Pledge 1% chief executive said Amy Lesnick: “Airwallex’s equity commitment is critical as it will tie company success to long-term philanthropic engagement and impact. As Airwallex grows, so will its funding and its ability to affect change.”