Ant Financial raises $14bn to invest in blockchain and other technologies

Ant Financial, the payment affiliate of China’s ecommerce giant Alibaba, said on Friday it had raised $14bn in equity financing to accelerate its globalisation plans and invest in developing technologies such as blockchain.

Ant Financial raises $14bn in renminbi and US dollar tranches: Ant Financial

The capital raising included a renminbi tranche from domestic investors and a US dollar tranche raised by Ant International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ant Financial.

Big investors

Participants in the international dollar-denominated fundraising included some big global corporations such as private equity investors Warburg Pincus and The Carlyle Group, asset manager T. Rowe Price Associates and pension fund Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Ant Financial said the funding would further enhance its ability to deliver inclusive financial services to unbanked and underbanked consumers and small enterprises globally.

Open ecosystem

Executive chairman Eric Jing said: “We are dedicated to building an open ecosystem with all our partners in China and beyond. We will continue to invest in technology and innovation in order to serve unmet financial needs of people everywhere and to enable them to benefit from the development of the digital economy.”

The company said it would continue to invest in developing its blockchain, artificial intelligence, internet of things and cloud computing capabilities and “upgrade its global technology platform for the next generation”.