$14 Billion Series C Round for Alibaba-Affiliate Ant Financial

Ant Financial Services Group announced today that they have raised approximately $14 billion in the Series C equity financing round, including a RMB tranche raised from Chinese investors by Ant Financial and a USD tranche from international investors by Ant International.

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Founded in 2014, Ant Financial is the payment-affiliate of Alibaba Group built on the Alipay payment platform that was formed a decade earlier. Ant International is a wholly owned offshore subsidiary of Ant Financial and by end March 2018. In the year that ended on March 31, 2018, Ant Financial boasts to have served approximately 870 million active users worldwide with their domestic and international partners.

The funds raised will be used to accelerate Alipay’s globalization plans and invest in developing technologies to serve unbanked and underbanked consumers and small enterprises globally. In addition, the capital will be used to cultivate high-tech talent in emerging markets to help communities take advantage of the opportunities arising from digital transformation. Ant Financial is also replicating the “Alipay model” in countries such as India, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The domestic investors of this round mainly comprise existing shareholders according to Ant Financial, while international participants include reputable institutional investors such as GIC, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Warburg Pincus, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Silver Lake.

Alibaba‘s logistics-affilaite Cainiao Network also recently announced plans to expand globally with the building of 5 international hubs starting with Hong Kong.