What's New in Payments

Ant Financial to create $1bn fund for Asian payments and financial services startups

Ant Financial to raise a $1bn startup investment fund — Bloomberg — “Billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Financial is planning to raise about US$1bn for a fund that will invest in startups from Southeast Asia to India and help strengthen its foothold in fast-growing mobile internet markets, a person familiar with the matter said. The internet finance company is looking to back more startups in those regions that focus on payments and online finance.”


What's New in Payments

Ant Financial seeks US$9bn in new funding

Jack Ma’s Ant Financial to raise $9bn, become world’s biggest unicorn — Wall Street Journal — “Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s financial technology business is about to vault into the ranks of the world’s most valuable companies. Ant Financial Services Group, carved out of his e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd seven years ago, is preparing to raise US$9bn in a private funding round, according to people familiar with the matter. That ups a previous fundraising target of US$5bn.”


What's New in Payments

Jack Ma’s Ant Financial nearly doubles profits amid deal push

Jack Ma’s Ant Financial nearly doubles profits amid deal push — Bloomberg — “The company controlled by Alibaba’s billionaire co-founder Jack Ma racked up an 86% jump in pretax profit to 5.56 billion yuan ($814 million) in the year ended March, according to Bloomberg’s calculations… Since starting as Alipay in 2004, Ant Financial has grown into an online giant that controls more than half of China’s $5.5 trillion mobile payments market.”


What's New in Payments

Ant Financial extends online credit service to retailers

Ant Financial extends online credit service to retailers — China Daily — “Ant Financial Services Group, the online finance firm backed by billionaire Jack Ma, will extend its online consumer credit service to four million retail businesses across the country to boost sales and encourage spending-as China’s consumers increasingly feel more comfortable shopping with borrowed money.”