Fintech startups, which saw an investor gold rush post-COVID, have struggled to raise capital thereafter as persistently high interest rates and fears of a spending slowdown pushed investors to the sidelines. Companies offering payments processing solutions have increasingly entered the U.S. lending space, aiming to wrest market share from major players such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup. Following the trend, Airwallex, which was launched in Melbourne in 2015, moved its permanent headquarters to San Francisco last year.