How Uptale cut FX costs by 66% and unified multi-entity finance with Airwallex
Discover how Uptale, a French immersive learning platform, replaced a fragmented banking stack with one global platform – cutting international transfer fees, issuing team cards in minutes, and supporting its next phase of international growth.
Minutes, not months
How long it now takes to issue corporate cards for APAC teams
66%
reduction in international transfer fees
4 entities, 1 platform
France, Singapore, US, and Tunisia managed from a single Airwallex dashboard
Uptale is a Paris-based immersive learning platform that helps large organisations create, deploy, and track VR training experiences at scale – serving 300+ customers worldwide, including 75% of CAC 40 companies.
Company size
60–65 employees
Industry
EdTech
Location
Paris, France
When you're building the future of workplace training, the last thing you need is a banking experience stuck in the past.
Uptale was scaling fast – more than 300 enterprise clients, a fresh €9 million fundraise, and new offices in Singapore, the US, and Tunisia.
But its financial infrastructure hadn’t kept pace.
Pascal Habib
Financial & Administrative Manager, Uptale
With five banking providers, FX fees of around 2.5% on transfers to APAC, and an 18-month wait for a single corporate card in Singapore, he needed a simpler way to run four entities from one place.That's where Airwallex came in.
The challenge
Legacy banking that couldn't match global ambitions
A fragmented banking stack across four entities: International expansion left Uptale with a tangled web of providers. In France, it relied on multiple banks and fintech tools; in Singapore, a traditional international bank; in the US, a digital banking alternative. Collections ran through a separate payment processor, while accounting flowed through Pennylane – with no single dashboard to connect the dots.
18 months for a single bank card: The sharpest pain was in Asia-Pacific. The legacy bank in Singapore imposed layers of bureaucracy that Pascal had “never seen in his life” – a year and a half to issue a physical card, paid documentation for every bank certificate, and multi-day response times on routine requests. For a startup moving at speed, it was untenable.
Cross-border fees eating into margins: International transfers from France to Singapore cost approximately 2.5% through the traditional banking channel – a significant drag on a company moving €200K+ per year to APAC alone, with Tunisia flows set to double that volume by the end of 2026.
One person, four entities, no margin for complexity: As the sole financial operator across France, Singapore, the US, and Tunisia, Pascal needed tools that simplified rather than multiplied his workload. Every manual step, every delayed transfer, every reconciliation gap cost time he didn't have.
The solution
A single global platform, built for speed
One dashboard for multi-entity, multi-currency operations: Pascal needed one platform to handle multi-entity, multi-currency operations. With Global Accounts in France and Singapore, Uptale gained local bank details in each market and a unified view of cash positions across the business from a single Airwallex dashboard.
Cards in minutes, not months: With Airwallex Corporate Cards, Pascal issued virtual and physical cards for the Singapore team within minutes – complete with individual spending limits, real-time alerts, and automated receipt tracking. The contrast with the previous provider's 18-month card process was stark.
FX savings from day one: By routing international transfers through Airwallex's local payment rails at interbank rates (0–0.5%), Uptale cut its FX fees by 66% compared to the 2.5% charged by its traditional bank. The savings were immediate and will grow as transfer volumes scale.
Accounting integration that “just works": Airwallex's integration with Pennylane – Uptale's accounting software – automatically syncs transactions to the company's finance stack, keeping Pascal and his accounting firm aligned without manual uploads. The integration was a prerequisite for Uptale's adoption and is now fully operational.
Pascal Habib
Financial & Administrative Manager, Uptale
Card creation, setup, receipt tracking, alerts – I have nothing negative to say, it's perfect.
The result
Lower costs, faster operations, and a scalable finance stack
66% lower transfer costs: By moving international transfers from ~2.5% fees to 0–0.5% with Airwallex, Uptale reduced FX costs on cross-border transfers by 66%. On current APAC volumes of more than €200,000 a year – with Tunisia flows expected to reach €30,000–35,000 per month – those savings grow as volumes increase.
From months to minutes on card issuance: The Singapore team went from having no usable corporate cards – after an 18-month wait with the previous provider – to fully operational virtual and physical cards, issued and configured in a single session. Spend visibility and control now extend across borders.
One platform for a four-entity business: Uptale now manages its France and Singapore finances from a single Airwallex dashboard, with plans to onboard Tunisia flows in June 2026 and potentially migrate US operations. The fragmented, multi-provider banking stack is being consolidated into one global platform.
A foundation for future growth: With break-even targeted for 2026 and international revenue growing, Uptale is also exploring Airwallex Payment Links to replace its current payment processor for client payments – bringing collections and payouts onto one platform and eliminating yet another intermediary.