In April 2025, Eric Glyman, co-founder and co-CEO of Ramp, received some bad news: A deal was falling apart.

Glyman had been hoping Ramp, a highly valued startup that sells corporate credit cards and expense management software, could strike a partnership with Airwallex—a fast-growing fintech founded in Melbourne, Australia—that would improve Ramp’s ability to handle international payments. But now Airwallex CEO Jack Zhang was pulling the plug on the proposed deal—partly because of pressure from investors who wanted his company to compete with Ramp, according to employees of both companies.

Glyman made an attempt to salvage the partnership, according to people familiar with discussions between the two companies. Zhang demurred. Soon after, Glyman warned Zhang that the relationship between their companies might not be so friendly in the future, according to people familiar with the situation.

In the wake of the canceled deal, some of Ramp’s high-profile, politically connected investors have launched a public and private campaign to urge the U.S. government to saddle Airwallex with a government investigation that probes any links the company may have with the Chinese government. Those investors have alleged that the Chinese government could access customer data passing through Airwallex subsidiaries in China.