There’s fundraising, and then there’s fundraising by Alibaba’s Ant Financial Services Group. Ant, the operator of China’s biggest online payment platform, raised around $14 billion, which is being called the biggest-ever single fundraising globally by a private company. What will Ant do with all that money?
First, the fund will boost Ant’s firepower ahead of a widely expected initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong and mainland China as early as next year, Reuters reported. Second, Ant would use the funds to speed up globalisation plans for its Alipay payment platform and to invest in developing financial technology, the company said in a statement.
Ant, previously known as Alipay, is an affiliate company of the Alibaba Group. Now, even bigger than Goldman Sachs. Ant has played a major role in shaping China’s financial technology landscape. It oversees the largest mobile payment app in the country which is becoming more and more a cashless society. In March this year, Ant Financial posted a 65% jump in pretax profit, rising to 9.18 billion yuan.
Controlled by the Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, Ant also plans to accelerate the shift within the next few years. In an exclusive report, Reuters said that in five years, technology services will make up 65% of Ant Financial’s revenue, compared with an estimated 34% in 2017.
