DigitSense streamlines global payments and saves on FX fees with Airwallex

DigitSense is a digital product development company based in Hong Kong that offers services covering digital product design, development, and digital marketing. Founded in 2020 by Moon Yiu, DigitSense helps global tech companies build new consumer websites and apps, and take them to market through highly effective digital marketing strategies.

At its core, DigitSense is a global business. It works with an international team of tech and digital marketing experts based in the UK, Japan, Indonesia, and more, with more than 80% of their clients are from the US, Singapore and Europe. 

However, to operate at a cross-border level comes with its own set of challenges: it is extremely expensive and difficult to carry out global transactions through traditional banks given the limited resources of a startup. That’s why DigitSense decided to switch over to Airwallex to streamline their growing international operations.

Moon Yiu

Founder & CEO of DigitSense

“If my friend wants to start a business, I will definitely recommend Airwallex, especially with the efficiency and ease of use . Basically, you can complete your application within just a few clicks.”

Challenge 1: Traditional bank charges expensive FX rates, eating up 5% of the profit

80% of DigitSense’s revenue comes from the US. Using traditional banks for their global transactions, the costly transaction fees and FX rates have taken away up to 5% of the company’s profit in the past.

Furthermore, DigitSense needs to be able to pay their overseas suppliers quickly. Traditional banks usually take a long time to process global transactions, which can cause cash flow problems for small businesses like DigitSense.

Solution & Results: Airwallex offers market-leading FX rates to minimise global transaction costs

Airwallex offers currency conversion service at a highly competitive, market-leading rate, helping DigitSense to reduce FX costs.

Using Airwallex, DigitSense is also able to complete their overseas transactions in just 30 minutes, removing any friction from their day-to-day overseas transitions.

Moon Yiu

Founder & CEO of DigitSense

“The most convenient thing about Airwallex is that each transaction takes only minutes to half an hour to be settled.”

Challenge 2: DigitSense requires a global payment gateway for their international client base

DigitSense serves clients from all around the globe. When it comes to customer payments, the process of traditional bank transfers is painfully slow and complicated. Most clients also prefer to pay by card, which poses a challenge as many payment gateway providers often charge an expensive FX rate, or only offer payouts in HKD.

Solution & Results: Airwallex offers a fast, convenient and cost-saving payment solution

Airwallex’s global payment gateway helps to ease the overall process of customer payment collection in terms of speed and efficiency. DigitSense can simply send an Airwallex payment link to their clients for them to easily settle the bill via credit card payment. DigitSense can then quickly collect the payment without having to incur any TT fees for major currencies — a win-win situation for both DigitSense and their clients.

Challenge 3: Difficult to open corporate cards

DigitSense pays for multiple SaaS subscriptions — including tools for productivity, remote communication tools, and software development — which are oftentimes charged in USD. Corporate cards offered by traditional banks in Hong Kong are not only notoriously difficult to apply for, they usually come with a base currency of HKD or RMB. This translates into expensive FX rates when settling overseas monthly bills in USD.

Solution & Results: Easy to create Airwallex Borderless Cards online

DigitSense has created free Airwallex Borderless Cards for their overseas employees to purchase hardware and other tools locally. Using this multi-currency virtual card, employees can choose from more than 140 currencies to settle their company expenses, without having to worry about the different FX rates. Moon is also able to better track employee spending in real-time, including their business trip expenses and entertainment fees; and set monthly spend limits to stay on top of the company budget.