Mellow Launches Contractor Management, Powered by Airwallex, to Simplify How Companies Hire and Pay Global Teams

The new product combines Mellow’s contractor operations platform with Airwallex’s global financial infrastructure to give businesses a single system for contracting, compliance, and cross-border payments.

Mellow, a contractor operations platform serving over 1,500 clients, has launched Contractor Management — a product that lets companies hire, contract, and pay global teams from a single platform. The product is built in partnership with Airwallex, a leading global financial platform for modern businesses, which enables fast, compliant payments to contractors and freelancers in 150+ countries.

Contractor Management is available now for businesses with entities in the United States and the European Union.

According to industry estimates, the global gig economy is projected to reach $674 billion in 2026, with nearly 1.6 billion independent workers worldwide. Industries like gaming, creative production, martech, and SaaS increasingly rely on distributed, project-based teams — yet most solutions on the market are designed for full-time employment, treating contractor operations as a secondary feature. Companies end up stitching together multiple tools for contracts, compliance, scopes of work, and international payments — often with hidden fees at every step.

Contractor Management covers the entire workflow — from hiring and onboarding to processing payments through locally available methods — all in one place, at a flat rate of €35 per contractor per month. The product replaces manual processes with automation: a company pays a single invoice to Mellow to distribute payments to thousands of contractors across different bank accounts, currencies, and payment methods. 

To build the payments layer, Mellow partnered with Airwallex rather than developing proprietary systems from scratch. Businesses rely on Mellow to manage their contractor operations, while Airwallex powers every payment underneath — handling transfers, compliance, and multi-currency payouts across 150+ countries. With Airwallex’s financial infrastructure, Mellow built and launched a product that would have required years of engineering work — in a matter of months.

“What we’ve built with Airwallex is infrastructure behind the infrastructure — companies rely on Mellow to run their contractor operations, and Airwallex powers every payment underneath. We see Contractor Management as the growth engine for Mellow this year,” said Pavel Shynkarenko, Founder and CEO at Mellow.

“Platforms like Mellow need more than payments – they need scalable global infrastructure. By embedding Airwallex’s multi-currency and cross-border capabilities, we’re enabling fast, compliant payouts in 150+ countries and helping power the next generation of global contractor platforms,” said Or Liban, VP, Middle East & Benelux at Airwallex.

Mellow’s immediate priority is scaling its Contractor Management client base across the industries where it sees the strongest demand. The company plans to double its CM client base and expand into new geographies in the coming quarters. The foundation built with Airwallex positions Mellow to enter additional markets and unlock new revenue streams as the product matures.

Mellow is a contractor operations platform that transforms the way businesses work with contingent workers. With products like Contractor-of-Record, Contractor Management, and AI Scout, Mellow streamlines talent onboarding, contracting, and payments, especially in hard-to-reach countries. The company serves over 1,500 clients, including SumSub, SPLAT, Appnext, and G2G, managing a network of 200,000+ contractors across 100+ countries. Mellow operates globally with offices in New York, Amsterdam, Cyprus, and Hong Kong.

Airwallex is a leading global financial platform for modern businesses. By combining proprietary infrastructure with software and AI, Airwallex helps businesses manage accounts, control spend, and embed financial services — replacing fragmented, legacy systems with a unified platform for global financial operations. Founded in Melbourne in 2015 and trusted by over 200,000 businesses worldwide, Airwallex holds 80+ licenses across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. The company is co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore.