How being stranded in a Thai night market led to this $4.7 million start-up

Australian fintech start-up WAIWIN is tackling Thailand’s payments problem – and is raising $4.7 million to do take it across Southeast Asia.

George Lipinski and Lili Wang, WAIWIN co-founders

Two years ago, George Lipinski was taking a break in Thailand after selling his previous edtech venture. He decided to visit a night market in Chiang Mai, and encountered a problem: he had no cash on hand, and every vendor only accepted PromptPay, Thailand’s ubiquitous QR-code payment system linked to local bank accounts. As a foreigner, he was locked out.

“I stood there awkwardly, unable to buy anything,” Lipinski says. “That’s when a local friend offered to help. He said, ‘Just send me a photo of the vendor’s PromptPay QR code, and I’ll pay for you.’ It worked perfectly and in that moment, something clicked. You’re surrounded by incredible local food and culture, but unable to fully participate because you don’t have access to local payment systems.”

This experience highlighted a systemic problem faced by millions of visitors each year: travellers were excluded from the payment infrastructure that powered everyday life in Thailand.

That moment led to the creation of WAIWIN, a cross-border payments startup co-founded by Lipinski and Lili Wang that has secured $300,000 in angel investment and just opened a US$4.7 million Series A round to expand its offering across Southeast Asia. The company positions itself as the first in the world to connect international travellers directly to local QR-code payment systems like PromptPay, which dominate in countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and India but remain inaccessible to foreigners.