HipVan modernises its finance ops and cuts admin time by 50% with Airwallex

Introducing HipVan

Walk into any stylish Singapore home and chances are, something from HipVan is part of the decor. Founded in 2012, HipVan began as a lean, design-led retailer with a small finance team that handled every payout, reconciliation, and supplier payment manually.

As transaction volumes grew, so did operational complexity. Managing multi-currency payments, tracking expenses, and keeping cash flow visible became a daily challenge. The lack of real-time visibility also made it harder to make timely payments, track spending, and make informed decisions. 

When KJ Chua joined HipVan as CFO, he saw an opportunity to modernise its systems. To stay agile and scale sustainably, the team turned to technology – tapping into automation and AI-powered tools to simplify financial operations, bring real-time visibility to every transaction, and free the finance team from repetitive manual work.

The challenge

Too many tools, too much manual work, no clear view of spend

As HipVan grew, managing supplier payments and employee reimbursements meant navigating a maze of tools and currencies. The team would upload bills to Xero for record-keeping, manually log into the bank's portal to create each transfer, and then return to Xero to mark every bill as paid. They did this one by one – for every vendor and every cycle.

Over time, this hands-on workflow became the default. The team got used to patching processes together and spent hours each week on tasks that could have been automated. Without integrations between its banking and accounting systems, the team couldn't see real-time spend or track payables until month-end.

KJ Chua

CFO of HipVan

“There was no way to see real-time spend or payables mid-month. We were always reacting after the fact instead of planning ahead. I don’t want to know my cash flows only at the end of the month — I want to know every week, ideally every day."

Spending more on cross-border payments, losing out on margins

As HipVan scaled its vendor network across Asia, international payments became a growing cost burden. Every payment, which came with wire fees as high as S$20, ate into margins. Multiply that across dozens of vendors each month, and the costs added up fast. Slow settlement times also left suppliers waiting, putting important partnerships under pressure.

Opaque FX rates and volume-based pricing structures meant HipVan never knew the real cost until the money landed. Forecasting costs turned into a guessing game, and the lack of transparency made it hard for the team to manage spend or keep cash flow predictable.

Meanwhile, working capital sat locked in fixed deposits, accessible only by sacrificing returns or waiting for funds to clear. The team had to choose between earning minimal interest or having cash ready to move when opportunities came knocking. 

Faced with trade-offs at every turn, HipVan couldn’t operate at full speed. It was clear the team needed a more efficient solution to manage payments, control costs, and gain real-time visibility into spend. 

The solution

HipVan replaced a maze of disconnected finance tools with Airwallex. Now, the team tracks spend in real time, manages payouts and expenses with a few clicks, and puts surplus cash to work through Airwallex Yield. 

Automated workflows and flexible controls

From approvals to payouts, HipVan’s finance team can now manage everything in one place. Automated approval flows allow stakeholders to sign off invoices and payments in a single step. Thanks to Airwallex’s two-way integration with Xero, HipVan’s accounting software, manual reconciliations are now a thing of the past. The team sees every payable, approval, and expense in real time. There’s no need to wait till month-end to get a clear picture of cash flow.

KJ is delighted by the efficiency: “Everything is centralised in one place with Airwallex. We approve the reimbursements, they show up in transfers straight away. Same with payments to vendors – once it’s approved, you can send the payout without having to switch between platforms.”

More savings, more control

With Airwallex, HipVan sends international payments like a local business, with funds routed through local payment rails. This cuts out hidden intermediary bank charges and saves the team up to S$20 per transfer – translating to thousands of dollars in savings each month as HipVan expands its supplier network.

To top it off, HipVan now earns daily returns on idle funds in both SGD and USD using Airwallex Yield, without having to lock them up in low-yield accounts or fixed deposits. Funds can be accessed as quickly as within 48 hours, giving the team the flexibility to move quickly and manage cash flow with confidence. 

KJ Chua

CFO of HipVan

“Airwallex removes all the complexities of dealing with multiple platforms. Having one place to see all my financial operations just makes life easier. I don’t have to waste unnecessary mind space switching between apps.”

The result

With Airwallex, HipVan's finance team has traded late nights and spreadsheet hunts for real-time visibility and complete control over every transaction:

• With Airwallex Spend, HipVan has reduced time spent on reconciliation, approvals, and payouts by 50%.

• The team saves up to S$20 on every international payment with Airwallex FX & Transfers, and our proprietary network of local payment rails in 120+ countries.

• Excess cash and working capital are already earning daily returns in Airwallex Yield, with full liquidity and withdrawals typically available in 48 hours or less.

For KJ, Airwallex has also given the team something intangible. “Increasingly, the role of the CFO is to be a strategic partner to the business. The more time we can free up from financial ops to focus on strategy and delivering value, the better.”

By automating its financial operations, HipVan now has the visibility and headroom it needs to focus on its next phase of growth – scaling Communa, a content-first marketplace connecting shoppers, creators, and brands.

This ambitious growth would’ve been impossible with HipVan's old manual systems. With Airwallex, the financial operations that once slowed HipVan down now powers them forward.

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