PartnerStack revolutionises B2B relationships with Airwallex

PartnerStack, a trailblazer in ecosystem management software, has fundamentally transformed how B2B organizations collaborate. With a staggering 117% Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) growth year over year, they’ve single-handedly facilitated $1 billion of GMV—and more than $500 million in 2023 alone across their vast network.

We spoke with Neil Chudleigh, Co-founder, and Ajay Bala, Senior Product Manager, to gain insights into how PartnerStack has harnessed Airwallex’s multi-currency payment solutions to expand on a global scale.

B2B Partnership Pioneers

PartnerStack’s success is driven by its vision to rethink B2B partnerships—along with the entire landscape of affiliate marketing.

The company was born out of its founders’ prior startup attempt. Facing difficulties selling to nonprofits, they pivoted toward working with commission-based sales partners and realized it was a great application for B2B SaaS companies.

This shift led to an expansive network of over 80,000 partners, eventually making PartnerStack the world’s largest B2B network, with a powerful platform that helps businesses manage and optimize their partner and affiliate programs.

In the last year, PartnerStack’s GMV surpassed the hallowed $1 billion mark, with every dollar of that billion representing a dollar of value exchanged between a SaaS company and a partner. This milestone underscores PartnerStack’s belief that strong partnerships power revenue in the B2B world.

Neil Chudleigh

Co-Founder

"We have a massive partner and customer base at PartnerStack, making it easier for B2B SaaS companies to scale and grow their channels."

A Need for Integrative Payment Solutions

As part of their PRM solution, PartnerStack helps SaaS platforms track and pay partners their fees for each successful channel sale. As PartnerStack continued to grow, they found that around 15-20% of their SaaS customers are located in one country, with the partner located in another. Motivated to solve challenges related to deliverability and speed of these cross-border payments, PartnerStack began evaluating new payment platforms in 2021.

“Other payment providers had a lot of restrictions on how you can move cash,” Chudleigh shared. “They tend to be expensive in pretty surprising ways for moving money to certain locations.”

In addition to reducing FX costs for partners, PartnerStack also sought a solution that seamlessly integrated with their platform and provided a native experience to “make it easy for partners to use.”

Chudleigh explained, “We wanted something that wasn’t going to limit us. Something built to be integrated into a product and to feel native to the PartnerStack platform.”

Airwallex emerged as the ideal choice due to its deep integration capabilities, transparent documentation, local payout rails in 90+ countries, and low FX fees. Airwallex now supports PartnerStack by facilitating efficient and secure payouts to partners with a reduced payout processing time, thus enhancing their operational efficiency and partner satisfaction.

The Impact of Local Payout and Multi-Currency Functionality

Since adopting Airwallex, PartnerStack has achieved remarkable results. The ability to receive funds via direct bank transfer is a common partner request.

Over the course of just a few months, PartnerStack has processed millions of dollars in transactions to over six thousand partners via the Airwallex platform. Those partners span 20-25 countries and PartnerStack estimates their partners have saved over 3% in FX fees.

Streamlining their payment operations through Airwallex’s payout capabilities has significantly improved PartnerStack’s efficiency and partner satisfaction.

Ajay Bala emphasised the significance of Airwallex’s support for local payouts in multiple currencies and geographical regions.

Ajay Bala

Senior Product Manager

“The value for building our top-of-the-funnel is our payments functionality. Airwallex’s multi-currency capabilities have made a huge difference.”

Expanding Support to Match Airwallex's Reach

Airwallex provides a scalable solution to support PartnerStack’s global mindset.

Bala shared the company’s vision for collecting payments from its SaaS platform clients in upcoming years: “We want to use Airwallex to collect multi-currency payments in all of the countries that Airwallex supports.”

PartnerStack’s goal is to create a more expansive and seamless experience for the SaaS companies they serve. They plan to leverage Airwallex’s global account and card acquiring capabilities to collect international payments from their customers and expand their multi-currency support, making operations more accessible and efficient for SaaS platforms worldwide.

Chudleigh highlighted the significance of the service extension. “Being able to support multiple currencies is a big deal and can be the reason we win against competitors. It’s an advantage for users—ease of use, holistic end-to-end, multi-currency flow, not being scolded for living in a country other than the United States by getting a higher payment processing fee.”

Bala agreed. “We want to give them a good fee no matter where they are, and I think Airwallex is going to make things much easier.”

Airwallex is a gamechanger for businesses like PartnerStack to stay competitive, agile, and future-focused.

Ajay Bala

Senior Product Manager

“We want to give them a good fee no matter where they are, and I think Airwallex is going to make things much easier.”