Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial Services closes record US$4.5b round of financing
Funds expected to support expansion in rural areas and international markets
Alibaba Group affiliate Ant Financial Services, operator of Alipay, plans to accelerate its expansion in mainland China’s rural areas and new markets overseas after completing a US$4.5 billion round of funding on Tuesday.
Ant Financial said its Series B, or second round, of private equity financing was the world’s largest single private placement by an internet company.
China Investment Corp Capital and CCB Trust, a subsidiary of China Construction Bank, each led a consortium that participated in the funding round as new investors.
They were joined by existing Ant Financial shareholders, including China Life, China Development Bank Capital, Primavera Capital Group and China Post Group, the parent of the Postal Savings Bank of China.
“The capital raised in Series B will allow us to invest in the infrastructure, such as cloud computing and risk control, that will underpin our long-term growth in rural and international markets,” Ant Financial president Eric Jing said.
Founded in October 2014, the company currently provides online payment, insurance and wealth management services to more than 140 million users in the Chinese countryside, where access to financial services remain limited.