Love to Dream can sleep easy when it comes to financial operations with Airwallex

Love to Dream is a baby brand adored by little ones everywhere. Established by a Sydney mum who designed their famous swaddle for her son 15 years ago, the business now sells roughly one swaddle for every newborn baby in Australia. 

While they previously sold overseas through a network of distributors, the company is now setting up their own presence in the UK, Germany, the U.S. and Canada. We spoke with CFO Chris Malley, who was looking for an agile financial operations product that could facilitate this transition into new markets - taking cosy swaddles to lucky babies around the world. 

When traditional solutions can’t keep up

When Chris began seeking overseas banking solutions, he found that the popular options left a lot to be desired. 

“We were looking to set up bank accounts with traditional banking providers in the UK and U.S.,” says Chris. “The KYC procedures, the bureaucracy, and clunkiness of the web platforms, It was just painful to be honest. Everything took too long.”

In comparison, Airwallex’s straightforward onboarding processes were a breath of fresh air – and a much better fit.

Chris Malley

CFO, Love to Dream

“For me, it’s the nimbleness and agility of Airwallex. It's simple, with the right level of security and control in place, yet it's just so flexible and fits us really well. The speed of getting things set up and having active accounts was so much better when compared to other providers.”

A platform that’s one step ahead

When getting started with a new tech or finance solution, implementation processes can be exhausting. While the Love to Dream team had the support of Airwallex’s local account managers and customer service team, Chris found that they didn’t really need it.

“They’re always really keen to help, and always want to help solve our problems - the implementation teams and support teams are great in that regard.”

“But to be honest the platform is so intuitive, I don't really find I need much support. That's what's great about it. If I think about the other providers – sometimes I can't figure things out and I ultimately have to use a help line.”

With more implementations on the way as Love to Dream picks up more of Airwallex’s high-impact tools, the roll-out is not a concern for Chris. 

“Now we're going through rolling out more credit cards and integrating with Netsuite and looking at the reimbursements functionality. And it all just seems so simple I don't feel I'm going to need a big implementation team or a lot of support.” 

Chris Malley

CFO, Love to Dream

“It’s just set up in such a simple way that implementation is - not quite overnight - but very quick.”

Slashing the costs of FX

One of the biggest elements that eats away at a company’s finances is the costs of FX transactions and fees. For a business that’s exploring international expansion, this is no longer a frustrating necessity. Airwallex’s powerful global financial infrastructure can slash costs during these critical growth periods. 

When Chris reflects on the impact to Love to Dream’s bottom line, “We did not implement Airwallex to drive savings, but we have been pleasantly surprised with how our FX costs have reduced with Airwallex - we are now saving several thousand dollars per month."

Saving essential time for remote and global teams

Cost savings are fantastic, but time savings can be just as important for a growing business. Time is money, after all.

With teams in the U.S. and the UK working on the road, finding an agile expense management solution is essential. The Airwallex app is your team’s gateway to managing all of their work finance admin – wherever they happen to be. 

“When I think of people trying to claim expenses and having issues with accounts and finance, it's just the lost time,” says Chris. 

“We have remote teams in the U.S and the UK, but the finance support is here in Australia, so the time zones are against us. But the remote teams are able to access and get what they need. And that's where it's really efficient and we save time rather than dollars.”

Constantly growing to fit evolving needs

Airwallex is a feedback-driven platform, and we’re constantly launching new updates and products to fit the changing needs of businesses. Chris’ account manager Ali Black is always keeping him up-to-date with what features are set for release and how they could help further support Love to Dream’s ambitions. 

We’re not about gimmicks or quick-fix solutions, we want our product updates to be making a difference to businesses from the jump. 

Chris agrees that the product is changing in a way that’s productive for Love to Dream. “It's evolving in the way that we need. The evolution seems to be really aligned to business needs. Rather than what's new from a tech point of view, it's actually what we need.”

Unlocking new possibilities with Yield

Love to Dream have been an early adopter of our exciting new product, Yield.

Airwallex Yield gives the opportunity to earn competitive returns on multi-currency balances - no minimum lock up period required.

"We decided to take up Yield to make sure that we weren’t missing out on any returns opportunity – it saved us from having to transfer to a deposit/savings account, but still allowed us to get market rates of returns on any excess cash that built up."

A dreamy future with Airwallex

Love to Dream have rocketed into their global expansion, now it’s time to scale in a sustainable way.

Chris Malley

CFO, Love to Dream

“In a high growth environment, things change quite a lot. What we need to do is stabilise our systems and processes, and build something scalable. Certainly Airwallex will be part of that.”

With more product implementations on the way, Airwallex has gone above and beyond what Chris first thought was possible. Brought in as a short-term solution, the platform has proved its value.

“I have to say, I think there was a thought that Airwallex was going to be a stepping stone. We thought we'll use Airwallex because it's quick, but once we are set up in the U.S. and the UK, we'll need to have a different banking arrangement. We did see it as a kind of quick entry point. But we can now see it's got the functionality that will support us going forward.”

We’re thrilled to know that for Love to Dream, Airwallex has delivered on its promise to streamline financial operations.

Chris Malley

CFO, Love to Dream

“So often, and it's not just in banking, but I get told about new products that promise they are going to "change the world" and make accounting and finance processes more efficient and effective. Airwallex really does what it says on the tin. It does streamline things and it does make things simpler.”

“I think it does deliver on what it promises in terms of being quick, low cost, agile and adaptable enough to fit different scenarios.”

Discover the possibilities of Airwallex

If you are looking to streamline internal processes, expand or scale into new markets, slash costs and admin time, and much more – Airwallex can help. 

Could you be our next success story? Learn more about Airwallex’s groundbreaking product suite, talk to our sales team, or get started by signing up now. 

Disclaimer: The information contained herein is factual information only and is not intended to imply any recommendation or opinion about a financial product. This information doesn’t take into account your objectives, financial situation, or needs. If you are a customer of Airwallex Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 487221) it is important for you to read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for the Direct Services, which is available [here](https://www.airwallex.com/au/terms/product-disclosure-statement). If you are a customer of Airwallex Capital Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 549026), it is important for you to read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for Airwallex Yield, which will be made available to you at the time of onboarding. Airwallex Yield is brought to you by Airwallex Capital Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 549026). All investments carry risk.