How Igloohome unlocks cost savings and fast overseas transfers with Airwallex

Discover how smart access company Igloohome uses Airwallex to run their global business and make fast, cost-effective international payments.

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Igloohome Logo

Saved SGD 100+

per SWIFT transfer

Saved 5%

per overseas transaction with Borderless Cards

Cut transfer times

from minutes to seconds with FX and Transfers

Igloohome is a Singapore digital lock brand and software-as-service. They manufacture keyless smart locks for homeowners and businesses, which can be managed remotely through a mobile app.

Company size

> 100 employees

Location

US, Asia Pacific (Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka), Japan, UK, France

Industry

Software & tech services

Airwallex Products Used

Global Accounts
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Igloohome is a Singapore digital lock manufacturer and software-as-service company.  Since 2016, they have supported homeowners and global companies like Airbnb with keyless locks and other smart access solutions. With 2,500 B2B clients and 110 employees around the world, Igloohome’s growth shows no signs of slowing down. 

How did Igloohome navigate global growth with Airwallex? 

  1. Saved SGD 100+ per SWIFT transfer

  2. Saved 5% per overseas transaction with Borderless Cards

  3. Cut transfer times from minutes to seconds

Challenge 1:  High transaction fees on traditional corporate cards

Using bank corporate cards for business travel and SaaS subscriptions was a big challenge for Igloohome. “There were a lot of hidden costs,” Anthony explains. “We were incurring forex fees for all our international transactions, losing a lot of money in the process."

Although their bank cards had strong security features, it sometimes got in the way of convenience. Their cards would occasionally get locked for no obvious reason, which caused a lot of frustration.

The Igloohome team also used a separate service for uploading receipts, adding an extra layer of complexity to their reimbursement process.

Solution: Multi-currency Borderless Cards with built-in expense management

Today, Igloohome uses Airwallex Borderless Cards for all 8 countries they operate in and for all their business travel. This multi-currency debit card improved their bottom line as there are no foreign transaction fees. Being able to spend directly from the currencies in their Airwallex account helped Igloohome save over 5% on card fees for business travel and social media ads. They could also convert currencies at market-leading rates.

Borderless Cards come with a built-in expense management system. This simplified the reconciliation process by integrating receipt upload and expense approvals in one dashboard. Employees can upload receipts via the Airwallex mobile app, and the finance team can review and approve them in minutes. 

Anthony Chow

CEO and founder

"When it comes to payments, sometimes you just want it to work. We use the Airwallex Borderless Card in multiple locations and it has a nice audit trail to look at what I spend on. Whether it’s paying for Uber rides or social media ads, the cards always work.”  

Challenge 2: High SWIFT fees and forex risk for USD transfers

Igloohome frequently transfers USD funds from Singapore to Hong Kong. Using their corporate bank accounts to transfer funds inflated their costs significantly. “We were incurring SGD 100 or more with every SWIFT bank transfer,” says Anthony. 

Foreign exchange risk was also a problem, as the volatile exchange rates affected the amount of USD they receive for their SGD. Bank fees added to this challenge by increasing the overall cost of currency conversion. 

Solution: Transfer USD like a local with Global Accounts 

Using Global Accounts, Igloohome opened USD accounts in both Singapore and Hong Kong. These accounts are connected to local payment rails, which meant their USD transfers bypassed the SWIFT network and were treated like local transactions. 

The team can also easily transfer their held USD funds, which cuts down on unnecessary foreign conversion costs. If they needed to convert from SGD, Airwallex’s real-time pricing ensured they were converting when the market was in their favour.

“Using Airwallex really helped us save on transfer costs and improved our bottom line,” says Anthony.  

Challenge 3: Complex paperwork with cross-border transfers 

With traditional banking, international transfers involve an extra layer of admin. Businesses need to fill out extensive paperwork to meet compliance and legal standards for each country they operate in. Some countries required additional documentation, which impacted the speed of their cross-border transfers.

“I had to travel a lot as our business grew worldwide,” said Anthony Chow, Igloohome's CEO. “Dealing with payments in different currencies became tough, especially with foreign exchange risks.”

Anthony adds that setting up a scalable infrastructure for growth was also a challenge. “We used banks at first, but eventually saw the need for a more efficient, affordable, and user-friendly solution,” he says.  “Adding Airwallex to our financial toolkit has transformed the way we manage cross-border payments, making every transaction as simple as a local one.”

Solution: Fast international payments with Airwallex’s global transfer network

Igloohome leaned heavily on Airwallex’s wide payout network for fast cross-border payments. Airwallex is connected to local payment systems in over 110+ countries, which means international transfers are treated as local transactions and arrive as quickly as one business day. 

On top of this, Airwallex’s user-friendly and simple interface made it easy for Igloohome to fill out their recipient’s bank details. They could also create custom workflows to simplify the approval process.

Anthony Chow

CEO and founder

“Airwallex is our trusted yet fast solution to making transfers. With them, we cut down the time it takes to initiate a transfer from minutes to seconds. Approvals are seamless and this saved our finance team immense amounts of time.”

What’s next for Igloohome?

Igloohome aims to build a world without keys through its identity management and contactless access solutions. With a rising global demand for their enterprise software, keeping their priorities straight can be a challenge.

"Knowing what to focus on as a rapidly growing business can be challenging,” says Anthony. “When multiple requests and opportunities come your way, it’s easy to get distracted.”

Airwallex has helped Igloohome automate time-consuming but essential financial tasks, allowing them to focus on strategic initiatives that will drive their business.

Anthony Chow

CEO and founder

“We’ve used Airwallex as our financial platform for more than 2 years, and every transaction we have made has always been successful. Like Igloohome, Airwallex is solving real problems and we're glad we found a financial partner in them."

"We've saved up to 60% of our time on accounting and expense reconciliation with Airwallex."
"In just a few months, we've already saved more than SGD$13,000 in unnecessary bank fees!"
"We knew that the Singapore market alone was too small for us to survive and thrive. Today, we sell in 7 markets across the world and Airwallex is critical to our day to day global operations."

Hear what our customers say about Airwallex

Airwallex Testimony

“Singapore is a small market. Businesses who wish to make decent earnings have to export to other markets, at some point. Airwallex has accelerated our international expansion and enabled us to set up new overseas business accounts very easily.”

Emily Chu

Co-founder of Hey! Chips

Airwallex Testimony

"Airwallex is an innovative fintech platform with a first-class customer support team. They transformed the previously painful process of creating corporate cards and managing business accounts into something simple, convenient, and cost-effective. The onboarding was quick and smooth, the security features exceeded our expectations, and most importantly, it is really easy to use. Airwallex saves a lot of my team's time and the simplicity is genius."

Gavin Black

Interim CEO & Chief Financial Officer, PURE Group

Airwallex Testimony

“The new Expense Management system has been a real time saver for us in relation to the administration of our benefits program. Team members can upload receipts as they shop and we are able to clear our reconciliations much faster this way.”

Tanya Karolia

Payroll & Benefits, Linktree

Airwallex Testimony

I’m so thankful that Airwallex exists! Airwallex allows me to exchange currencies at really great rates, and the interface is very modern and easy to use compared to my bank. We save so much money with Airwallex! In just a few months, we've already saved more than SGD$13,000 in unnecessary fees!

Jennifer Chong

CEO, Linjer

Airwallex Testimony

"Airwallex has been a wonderful partner, supporting our FX needs with its highly digital, friendly user interface and responsive account managers.

Martin Tang

Co-Founder & CFO, Genesis

Airwallex Testimony

"Airwallex has been a game changer for all our banking needs. As a fast-growing startup, we need a scalable yet cost-efficient batch payment solution to pay our employees and vendors both inside and outside Hong Kong. Airwallex helps us save money on every bank transfer with their near-zero transaction fee and market-beating FX rates. We also use Airwallex’s multi-currency Visa cards for business travel expenses and SaaS subscriptions to avoid hidden bank fees that would otherwise have been difficult to spot. Would highly recommend other startups to get started with Airwallex!"

Henson Tsai

Founder, SleekFlow

Airwallex Testimony

"Airwallex's global payment solutions help us to save costs on international transaction fees & FX, fostering our mission to increase access to healthy period care that's better for our bodies and the planet."

Becks Bradley

Marketing and Development Director, LUÜNA naturals

Airwallex Testimony

"Airwallex has been great for our team - it makes payments and transfers so much easier, and has saved us significant amounts of time compared to what we were doing before with HSBC. Airwallex's platform is easy to use and very intuitive. Airwallex virtual card has solved most of our painpoints with sharing corporate card numbers and credit card limits. The best part is being able to save money on all our monthly bank transfers, and we've already saved thousands of dollars by using Airwallex. Airwallex's support has also been highly responsive to troubleshoot any issues in a timely manner."

Sarah Chang

Co-founder & COO, Forkast.News

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