China’s largest online payment platform has closed a series of funding round totalling $14 billion (£10.4bn)
Ant Financial Services Group, based in Hangzhou, was established in 2014 and spun off from multinational eCommerce giant Alibaba.
It operates the ‘Alipay’ mobile payment service, which overtook PayPal as the world’s largest mobile payment platform in 2013.
Ant will use the funds to speed up globalisation plans for its Alipay payment platform and to invest in new financial technology.
“We are pleased to welcome these investors as partners, who share our vision and mission, to embark on our journey to further promote inclusive finance globally and bring equal opportunities to the world,” said Ant Financial CEO and executive chairman Eric Jing.
“We are proud of, and inspired by, the transformation we have affected in the lives of ordinary people and small businesses over the past 14 years.
“Now, with the help of our partners, we are going to accelerate our strategy.”
The company said that the funding included both US and Chinese investors, including Singaporean sovereign wealth fund (SWF) GIC and US private equity firm Warburg Pincus.
“It’s probably the most uniquely positioned TechFin company on the earth,” stated Ben Zhou, a managing director of Warburg Pincus, who led the firm’s funding in Ant.