Airwallex tips $1 million into 10 AI startups

Cofounder and CEO Jack Zhang announced the annual initiative – Latitude 37 is a reference to Melbourne, where Airwallex began -in April and received 100s of applications from local startups before a panel of VCs and company execs selected the top 10.

Alongside the cash, the startups will have access to the fintech’s global network, as well as an immersion tour in San Francisco and Singapore, and direct exposure to its AI-native infrastructure.

“Looking at the founders we selected, one thing stood out: young people across Australia are building incredibly ambitious and technically difficult things with AI,” Zhang said.

“From robotics and aerospace to autonomous systems and financial infrastructure, there is no shortage of talent or imagination tackling some of the hardest problems in technology right here in Australia. Our job is to make sure building a globally significant company from Australia isn’t the harder path.”

The startups chosen are applying AI to industries ranging from financial services and education to robotics, aerospace, sport, transport and travel.

Julia Tan, who cofounded Geospan, which is developing real-time road hazard detection for autonomous vehicles, said the cash enables then to make a key hire and expand their roadside deployment trials.

“Just as importantly, Latitude 37 gives us access to insights and mentorship from people who have been on this journey themselves,” she said.

“Their experience building globally impactful companies will be invaluable as we work towards doing the same.”

The 10 Latitude 37 startups are:

AXIOMS (founders Manu Masson and Lochlan Hill), which builds networks of AI agents that form a super-intelligent system.

Blank Robotics (founders Jed Hoo and Anirudhh “Arnie” Ramesh), which deploys modular, general purpose robots for grocery retail.

Dreamscale Labs (founders Eric Ren, Chris Yoo, Antoine Nguyen and Kevin Lin), which is putting robot brains in the cloud

Forward (founders Daniel Yoon, Riley Janjis and Darryl Luo), which uses AI and automation to turn complex borrower information into structured private-credit deals.

Geospan (founders Julia Tan and Beau Hobba), which uses real-time road hazard detection to make connected and autonomous vehicles safer.

Kronus (founders Patrick Bellamy and Jack Ulbrich-Baker), which builds mission-critical software for safety-critical systems including satellites, aircraft and factories.

Polarbear AI (founders Haobo Zhang and Percy Ding), which is building AI-native schools for Generation Beta.

SeatFinder (founders Yaroslava Kiseleva and Nicolas Van Hoorick), which is helping travellers navigate flights and loyalty programs and make better travel decisions.

Superstat (founders Kai Bloomfield, Cordelia King and Sam Hung), which is turning game film into pro-level sports stats and highlights using computer vision.

SyncPay (founder Ezana Yohala), which makes sure every payment carries its full transaction record with it.

Latitude 37 is funded through Airwallex Impact, the company’s global Pledge 1% initiative.