Bilue brings finances in-house with Airwallex Bill Pay

Founded 13 years ago, Bilue has grown into a team of around 80 people, offering a wide range of digital services across mobile, cloud, web, and emerging technologies. The company first connected with Airwallex while playing a key role in developing the Airwallex mobile app. After seeing the value of Airwallex’s solutions firsthand, Bilue integrated its products to streamline and scale operations.

After adopting Airwallex Corporate Cards for corporate spending, Bilue became one of the first businesses to use Airwallex Bill Pay, a solution that simplifies how businesses pay, manage, and reconcile domestic and international bills in one place.

We spoke with Joel Stehr, Bilue’s Chief Operating Officer, to explore how Airwallex has helped improve efficiency and financial control across the business.

The challenge

Managing finances efficiently while scaling

As Bilue expanded, managing corporate spending and accounts payable became increasingly complex. The company relied on multiple providers to capture invoice details, approve payments, and process international transactions – leading to inefficiencies, high costs, and a lack of visibility.

Tracking expenses and reconciling payments across multiple currencies added further challenges while outsourcing accounts payable was expensive. Bilue needed a streamlined, in-house solution to reduce complexity without adding administrative burdens.

The solution

Corporate cards for transparent spending

Bilue first adopted Airwallex Corporate Cards, changing how the company manages spending across its global offices. With real-time visibility and seamless tracking, the finance team can now see exactly where company funds are being spent, eliminating guesswork and improving reconciliation.

“The first Airwallex product we adopted was its Corporate Cards for managing all our corporate spending and recurring payments in multiple currencies,” says Joel Stehr, COO at Bilue. “The transparency and visibility the cards have provided for us in our spending has been important, as historically, this has been vague.”

The ability to track transactions and capture receipts has made month-end close significantly faster and improved reporting and tax compliance. The multi-currency functionality allows Bilue to pay international expenses without incurring unnecessary FX fees.

Bringing things in-house with Bill Pay for accounts payable automation

As soon as Bill Pay became available, Bilue integrated it to centralize all accounts payable workflows. Instead of juggling multiple tools, employees now upload invoices, and AI-powered Optical Character Recognition (OCR) extracts key details automatically. Customizable multi-layer approvals ensure smooth processing, and once approved, both domestic and international payments are automated – reducing the risk of delays.

Joel Stehr

Chief Operating Officer of Bilue

"Airwallex Bill Pay has given us better control over our finances, and has helped us roll up important strategic budgeting and forecasting capabilities. It’s also improved our relationship with our suppliers, because we now never miss a beat with paying them on time."

With Airwallex’s integration with Xero, transactions are synced in real time, allowing the finance team to view invoice and payment details side by side without switching between systems. This accelerates reconciliation and eliminates unnecessary manual work.

“We’re a small organization, but we’ve grown fairly substantially over the last couple of years. Using Airwallex has enabled us to gain a level of independence through in-house capabilities to take on things that were previously outsourced – such as accounts payable.”

The results

Cost savings, efficiency, and financial control

By bringing accounts payable in-house with Bill Pay, Bilue reduced accountancy costs by roughly 20% while gaining greater control over financial operations. Managing all transactions within a single platform saved the finance team significant time and minimized errors, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks.

With Airwallex Corporate Cards, corporate spending is now fully transparent, eliminating the need to chase receipts and approvals. The multi-currency functionality reduces FX costs, further improving financial efficiency.

Seamless adoption and integration

Joel describes the experience of adopting and integrating Airwallex as “super simple and super easy.”

“I come from an enterprise applications background where onboarding new applications can be difficult. With Airwallex, this was chalk and cheese, as we were able to easily issue cards, get our expense management set up, organize approvals, and get Bill Pay up and running – all within a few days.”

Why Bilue chose Airwallex

Having worked with Airwallex as a supplier before, Bilue knew it had a strong reputation for helping businesses optimize financial operations.

“We actually originally started on a path with one of Airwallex’s competitors, but this didn’t last long for a variety of reasons,” says Joel.

“Our decision process with choosing Airwallex was based around the relationship we had at the time and knowing they were an amazing team. We had a great level of comfort that they were a reputable organization with high standards around their information security, which was a big ticket item for us.”

“While we have a small team, Airwallex has enabled us to easily provide transparency and visibility to our stakeholders, which has also boosted our efficiency. We now have clean, simple, easy processes.”

“The Airwallex team will also reach out to us when they’re developing additional features to input on how they may be useful for us, which I really appreciate.”

Having a deep understanding of Airwallex’s suite of products has helped Bilue identify cost-saving opportunities by bringing more processes in-house.

“Fostering our relationship with Airwallex has helped us connect with a team who know the problems we’re experiencing as a business and are able to genuinely assist us with remedying these issues. It’s great, helpful support that’s made us think, ‘Okay, we’re not alone in this, and there are people and platforms who can help us improve.’”

Over 150,000 companies around the world trust Airwallex’s software and APIs to simplify global payments, unlock new opportunities, and scale without limits. If you’re looking to take your business to the next level, explore the Airwallex product suite today.