Airwallex helps DigitSense on global market expansion with cash flow optimisation

In 2020, Moon Yiu started DigitSense in Hong Kong as a team of one, driven by a mission to bring digital transformation to global businesses that sought to digitise their products and strategies during the pandemic. Fast forward to today, Moon leads a growing team of global talents, offering services that bring together digital product design, development, and digital marketing.

Eliminating expensive foreign transaction fees

As a global startup, Hong Kong-based DigitSense works with clients from a number of different countries, with 80% of their revenue coming from the US. Their team is equally diverse and is made up of UI/UX designers, developers, and marketers from around the world. This means that DigitSense has to make global transactions on a daily basis, from receiving customer payments from abroad to paying their overseas employees in more than five different currencies. 

In the beginning, Moon used traditional banks for accepting and sending money internationally. However, she quickly realised that the expensive foreign transaction fees ate into nearly 5% of the company’s profit. 

To make matters worse, “many other service providers, whether they are a bank or online payment gateway, usually use our local currency to accept payments,” says Moon.

The high exchange rates from these bank transactions resulted in even greater losses for DigitSense. 

By opening an Airwallex Global Account, Moon is able to save on these excruciating bank charges and other handling fees. When an overseas customer makes a payment, the amount will go straight into the Airwallex multi-currency account, called Global Account, without first being converted into HKD. Additionally, when Moon pays her overseas employees, she is able to avoid unnecessary foreign transaction fees with her Global Account.

Optimising cash flow with near real-time transactions

As a startup that solely relies on revenue, it is crucial for DigitSense to be able to carry out their global transactions quickly. 

“For SMEs, time is one of the most important things. [DigitSense] didn’t have any funds when we first started, so we needed to rely on our cash flow,” Moon explained.

This is especially the case when a client is slow to settle an invoice or when they have to pay a supplier instantly. 

Traditional Hong Kong banks typically take 2-3 days, sometimes even longer, to process overseas transactions. 

Airwallex takes as quickly as half an hour to settle a global transaction, helping startups like DigitSense to save on time, and more importantly, avoid operational issues due to a lack of liquidity.

Managing multiple SaaS subscriptions more cost-efficiently

DigitSense relies on various SaaS subscriptions, such as GitHub and other project management software, for their day-to-day operations. Many of these subscription services charge in USD, which presents a challenge for SMEs like DigitSense who find it difficult to open a USD corporate card in Hong Kong.

Using the Airwallex Borderless Card, Moon has discovered a smarter solution for managing her SaaS subscription payments. The Airwallex Borderless Card is a multi-currency Visa card that enables SMEs to make global payments more easily. It is free to apply and takes only a few minutes to create online. By creating an Airwallex card, Moon is able to select from 11 currencies to settle her SaaS payments, helping her to avoid differences in exchange rates.

DigitSense’s global expansion at a lower cost

With the help of Airwallex, DigitSense is able to accelerate their growth and expand their global footprint at lower costs (with zero local transfer fees and lower FX conversion fees). The startup currently has plans to expand to Europe, with eyes on the UK as their launch pad and expansion to Amsterdam further down the line.

Airwallex is committed to helping SMEs enter overseas markets and build their global presence more easily. If your business is looking to reach a greater international audience, open a free Airwallex account today to manage your international transactions more efficiently. Book a demo with our product specialist to learn more.

Click here to watch the full video interview with DigitSense.