Airwallex takes its McLaren F1 partnership up a gear

Airwallex is stepping up its Formula 1 presence, becoming the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team’s first official AI finance partner from January 2027 in a multi-year extension of its tie-up with the team.

The partnership began in 2024, when Airwallex joined McLaren Racing as a technology partner. Under the new deal, the financial platform’s brand presence will expand to the sleeve of the team’s kit. Airwallex branding will also remain on both cars in the Halo Rear Left position and on the drivers’ overalls.

The two will look to build faster, more efficient technology on and off the track. Airwallex will continue to provide the technology behind McLaren’s digital partner merchandise platform, enabling it to collect payments from customers through a range of global and local payment methods.

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“Airwallex is our first Official AI Finance Partner and we’re confident in their ability to help us run our financial operations faster and more efficiently,” said Laura Bowden, chief financial officer at McLaren Racing.

Pranav Sood, Airwallex’s chief financial officer, said the partnership has shown how smarter financial infrastructure and AI-native technology can help global organisations move faster and operate with greater control across borders. 

He said the deal fits the company’s broader strategy as it enters what it calls the “agentic banking” era, with Airwallex’s agentic business accounts at the centre of its unified stack.

The news follows Airwallex’s US$320 million Series H round in June at an US$11 billion valuation, which it is using to build AI-native financial software.

It also comes after three seasons in which Airwallex supported McLaren’s global financial operations as the team won its 10th Constructors’ World Championship and Lando Norris took the 2025 Drivers’ Championship. Last season also drew a cumulative audience of 1.83 billion, up almost 7% on 2024, according to market research firm Nielsen.

With McLaren as a starting point, Airwallex has built a wider sports portfolio. It became official finance software partner of Arsenal in July 2025, and in February 2026 became official jersey patch partner of the San Francisco Giants and official business finance partner of New Zealand’s Super Rugby club, the Blues.

The sleeve placement is a step up in visibility for a partnership that Airwallex has said is about more than branding. Jon Stona, vice president of global marketing, told A+M earlier this month that the tie-up was never about a logo on a car, and always about deep product integration. He said the partnership has performed beyond expectations, with the company’s surveys showing material improvements in brand awareness, familiarity, trust and consideration.

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