Airwallex has acquired OpenPay, a San Francisco-based billing platform, to add new billing and revenue analytics features to its global financial platform.

The new tools, which will include subscription management and payment orchestration, are expected to be available for Airwallex customers in Q4 2025.

Airwallex, founded in Melbourne, serves businesses with cross-border payments and financial services.

The company said this move will strengthen its offerings against competitors such as Stripe Billing and Recurly.

OpenPay’s platform supports recurring payments, smart payment routing, and usage-based billing models.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

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🔗 Source: AirWallex

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Strategic positioning ahead of subscription economy explosion

Airwallex’s acquisition of OpenPay positions the company to capture a rapidly expanding market opportunity.

The subscription billing management market is projected to reach $17.95 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 16.9%2.

More broadly, the global subscription economy is expected to grow from $722.5 billion in 2025 to $1.2 trillion by 20303.

This represents a significant shift in how businesses generate revenue, with companies across industries moving from one-time sales to recurring revenue models.

Given that Airwallex already processes over $200 billion in global payments annually4, adding billing capabilities through OpenPay allows them to capture a larger share of their existing customer transactions.

The acquisition enables Airwallex to compete directly with established players like Stripe Billing and Recurly in a market that’s experiencing growth driven by digital transformation across industries.

2️⃣ Capitalizing on AI-driven usage-based billing transformation

The acquisition specifically targets the shift toward usage-based billing models that AI companies require for monetization.

OpenPay’s capabilities include automated features for usage-based billing tied to actual product consumption rather than traditional seat-based pricing1.

This timing aligns with how AI companies monetize through tokens, API calls, and compute usage rather than fixed subscription fees1.

Traditional billing systems weren’t designed for these dynamic pricing models, creating an opportunity for platforms that can handle real-time usage tracking and billing.

The combination positions Airwallex to serve the growing number of AI and consumption-led businesses that need advanced billing infrastructure to match their innovative business models.

This represents a shift from static subscription pricing to dynamic, consumption-based revenue models that require more sophisticated billing technology.

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