Airwallex helps FBA acquirer Olsam scale across borders

Olsam is a fast-growing start-up founded by two brothers, Ollie and Sam Horbye. Their business buys Amazon FBA companies and grows them into market-leading brands. 

With respective backgrounds in private equity and the Amazon marketplace, the brothers knew they had the skills to successfully acquire and scale ecommerce brands across borders. 

A truly international company, Olsam’s team is headquartered in the UK and has employees in South Africa and the Philippines. They trade across global marketplaces, including the US, Europe, and the UK, and have plans to expand into Australia and Asia Pacific. 

When searching for a global business account, they knew they needed a platform with a slick onboarding process that would allow them to integrate their newly acquired brands quickly and efficiently. And so they came to Airwallex. 

“The customer service and the responsiveness of Airwallex is a massive reason why we’ve chosen to work with you,” says Sam. “We’re having to set up new accounts all the time, if we hit roadblocks we know we can email or call, and we’ll have a timely response.”

How Olsam stands out from the crowd

Ecommerce aggregation has mushroomed in the past two years, with Amazon acquirers attracting more than $12 billion in investment between them since 2020, according to Marketplace Pulse. What makes Olsam stand out is their first-hand experience of the Amazon marketplace. 

“We have a great skill set within the team,” says Olsam’s Finance Director, Martyn Firth. “A lot of people who manage our teams are ex-Amazon employees, so they really know the space. We have great ambitions to grow the businesses in terms of new territories and to optimise our cash position and the efficiencies we can build.”

The coming year will bring greater international expansion for Olsam, particularly in the US and China. The business is also making plans to partner with other Amazon FBA acquirers and grow their portfolio further.  

Another key focus for Sam in 2022 will be product sourcing. He is keen to ensure that the materials used in their supply chain are of the highest quality, whilst being sustainable. 

With Airwallex in place, Olsam can collect customer payments from their numerous Amazon stores in multiple currencies without being subject to forced FX conversions. Airwallex also enables them to sidestep unnecessary transfer and exchange fees when paying international suppliers. 

Airwallex helps Olsam manage their finances across borders

Olsam is one company with many faces. Each brand they acquire has its own set of financial accounts, which need to be individually tracked and fed into the business’ central accounting systems.  Managing multiple brands across borders in several currencies could present some challenges, but Airwallex allows Olsam to onboard their new enterprises and track their accounts easily within a single interface. 

“Airwallex allows us to switch between multiple business bank accounts with one log in, allowing easier management of multiple subsidiaries,” says Martyn.  ”And being able to integrate with Xero is really beneficial.”

For Sam, it’s the Airwallex platform and the efficient onboarding process that makes us the payment provider of choice for Olsam. 

“If you’re looking for a scalable and slick onboarding and set up process for each acquisition, Airwallex is fantastic,” says Sam. “It also provides a great interface for viewing a consolidated list of seller centrals and Amazon stores in a nice dashboard. The design is very helpful for businesses like us.” 

The global account for global businesses

Airwallex gives companies like Olsam full control of their finances across countries, currencies and brands. We cut down the cost and administrative burdens usually associated with international trade, making global expansion that much easier. 

To find out how Airwallex could help your business scale internationally without the added costs, sign up online or click below to watch a three-minute demo.

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