Tech Business Mr Yum goes global with Airwallex

Corey Payne

Financial Controller at Mr Yum

"It is wild to see that kind of technology… it's just one of those ideas where you think, why has this not been done before?"

Mr Yum started in Melbourne with a simple mission: To help hospitality businesses offer seamless digital ordering experiences. Its QR-based mobile menu and ordering technology quickly gained traction, and as demand for contactless experiences grew worldwide, the company expanded beyond Australia into the UK and the US.

However, scaling internationally brought financial challenges. Mr Yum needed a faster, more cost-effective way to manage global payments, employee expenses, and FX transactions without the high fees and inefficiencies of traditional banking. The company was also looking for a solution that would allow it to move fast without administrative red tape slowing down growth.

The challenge

Financial bottlenecks slowing expansion

For Mr Yum, global growth meant navigating multiple currencies, payment providers, and financial inefficiencies that added unnecessary costs and operational complexity.

One major roadblock was managing employee expenses across international sales teams. Without a scalable company card solution, sales team members used personal cards for ad-hoc business expenses. The reimbursement process was slow and frustrating, requiring excessive time to submit and reconcile expenses. In some cases, employees simply chose not to request reimbursement at all, absorbing business costs themselves to avoid the hassle.

"There is a lot of informal spending like coffee and entertainment, but staff was paying for things and then not bothering to claim because it was just too time-consuming," said Corey Payne, financial controller at Mr Yum.

Expanding into the UK presented another major financial challenge. To process customer payments in GBP, Mr Yum selected Stripe as its payment gateway. However, as an Australian company, it had no UK-based account to hold GBP funds. This meant Stripe would automatically convert payments to AUD before depositing them – forcing Mr Yum to pay a 3% FX fee on every transaction. Later, when paying UK suppliers, the company had to convert AUD back into GBP, doubling its FX costs and adding hidden international transaction fees.

According to Yvia Magan-Parker, account manager at Mr Yum, "When you start to dig into the 3% fees, it all adds up, especially if you're doing large SaaS subscriptions monthly."

Setting up a local UK bank account could have solved this issue, but it would have come with another challenge. It would have required Mr Yum to appoint a full-time UK-based director, a costly and unnecessary administrative burden that would have delayed its UK expansion by three months.

Corey Payne

Financial Controller at Mr Yum

"To set up business banking in the UK, you must have EU or UK based directors. We don't have that, we've got Australian founders and directors. We are not going to draft in a director that has nothing to do with the story or brand just to open a bank account."

Beyond currency conversion challenges, the company relied on SaaS tools, advertising, and payroll expenses in multiple currencies, including USD. Without a way to pay for these expenses directly in the billed currency, Mr Yum risked incurring hidden FX fees and inflated international transaction costs.

If Mr Yum wanted to grow at its envisioned pace, it needed a flexible financial infrastructure that eliminated FX inefficiencies, streamlined employee expenses, and reduced administrative overhead.

The solution

A global financial platform that scales with growth

With Airwallex Global Accounts, Corporate Cards, and Core API for Payouts, Mr Yum found a scalable, cost-effective solution to its global finance challenges.

Instead of dealing with costly FX conversions, Mr Yum opened an Airwallex UK Global Account in just five minutes, skipping the need to appoint a full-time UK director. This allowed the company to hold GBP funds directly, eliminating the 3% Stripe FX fee and giving the team complete control over its UK revenue. Now, instead of converting GBP to AUD and back again, Mr Yum can simply pay UK-based suppliers directly from its GBP balance, avoiding unnecessary transaction fees and saving $2,200* per month.

For employee expenses, Mr Yum issued 30+ virtual and physical Airwallex cards, allowing its sales teams to spend in multiple currencies without using personal funds or waiting for reimbursements. The finance team can now set up spending limits and automated approvals, reducing unnecessary admin while giving employees the flexibility to cover business expenses. This simple switch cut down card issuance time from two weeks to five minutes, ensuring teams could focus on growth rather than expense management.

Using Airwallex’s Global Account to pay SaaS, advertising, and payroll expenses directly in USD, Mr Yum eliminated unnecessary currency conversions and saved nearly $700* per month in FX costs.

The results

Faster expansion, lower costs, and greater efficiency

Switching to Airwallex has changed how Mr Yum manages its global finances. Payments that used to be subject to multiple FX conversions are now seamless, fast, and cost-effective. The company has also significantly reduced administrative overhead – freeing up time for its team to focus on scaling the business.

By eliminating forced FX conversions and international transaction fees, Mr Yum has saved over $30,000* annually and accelerated its UK expansion by three months. With streamlined payments, controlled employee spending, and an international finance strategy built for scale, Mr Yum is now positioned to enter new markets faster and more efficiently than ever before.

*approximate conversion from original currency (AUD)