China's Ant Financial closes $4.5b funding round
Ant Financial, Alibaba Group’s online financial services affiliate, has completed a $4.5 billion Series B round of funding, said to be the largest-ever fundraise by a private internet company globally.
The round reportedly values the online finance company at $60 billion. Sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. (CIC) and CCB Trust, a subsidiary of China Construction Bank, came in as new strategic investors, each leading a separate consortium, Ant Financial said on its official Weibo microblog.
Existing backers including China Life and other leading Chinese insurance companies, Postal Savings Bank of China's parent company China Post Group, China Development Bank Capital and Primavera Capital Group also took part in the round.
The new capital will be used to improve Ant Financial's cyber security, develop technology and recruit additional staff. Particular goals include extending the cloud computing infrastructure and developing biometric verification technologies. Ant Financial added that its plans to roll out services in China's rural areas, as well as enter overseas markets through the partnership with CIC.
Ant Financial, which has more than 400 million annual active users, operates a number of financial products linked to Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall e-commerce platforms, including Alipay, money market fund Yu'e Bao, credit service Sesame Credit and internet bank MyBank. It is also aggressively expanding its ecosystem by launching venture funds to support mobile app developers and online finance start-ups.
Separate from the parent company's US-listed business, it is widely expected to pursue an IPO this year. Last June, the National Council for Social Security Fund (NSSF) participated in a Series A round of funding for Ant Financial that was said to value the business at more than $40 billion. Other investors included China Post Capital.
Ant Financial has made numerous domestic investments and also entered India by participating in a funding round for Paytm, the country's largest mobile payment and commerce platform. Alibaba also took part in that investment.
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