Ant Financial Raises $14 Billion to Improve Blockchain Development
Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial just made a historic $14 billion Series C funding round, and according to the Alipay developer, some of the amount raised will go towards improving blockchain development.
Last Friday, Ant Financial revealed that it has come to a final decision with its investors for its Series C with the overall amount of $14 billion. The funding is raised from both domestic and foreign investors. According to the Wall Street Journal, $11 billion was raised in USD while the remaining $3 billion was in RMB. $200 million is the lowest investment figure, with the highest being $500 million.
It was previously reported that Ant Financial was seeking for a $9 billion investment rather than a supposed initial public offering (IPO). From the look of things, the Chinese firm is worth about $150 billion.
Ant Financial reported in its statement that it will continue boosting blockchain development, stating, “The Company will continue to invest in developing its blockchain, AI, security, IoT, and computing capabilities to upgrade its global technology platform for the next generation.”
This is the third sale made by Ant Financial in three years, catching the attention of The Carlyle Group, Discovery Capital Management, Silver Lake, Primavera Capital, General Atlantic, just to name a few.
Those who invested in the Alibaba’s subsidiary were asked to go according to specific terms including consenting not to increase previous stakes or invest in competing companies Tencent Holdings and JD.com Inc.
Even though this might seem normal, it is however not common for a firm to establish the terms, rather of its investors. Jack Ma, Alibaba’s CEO and founder of Ant Financial, has done his part and this indicates how important his firm is. According to reports, not all investors were chosen as some did not invest enough money while some were connected to Tencent.
Ant Financial is China’s number one online and mobile payment network, which presently runs Alipay and in 2017 bought MoneyGram International. The firm is set on using technology advancement to improve its customer services. Aside from working on blockchain solutions, the Chinese giant is also creating technology in artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), security and computing fields.
Jack Ma’s firm is set on launching Alipay in various countries across Asia such as Malaysia, Philippines, India, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Ant Financial claimed it served more than 850 million annual active users internationally and over 15 million businesses in China.
If Ant Financial is successful in going public, it could be more valuable than some of the most storied US financial firms, such as Goldman Sachs, PayPal, and BlackRock. Presently, there are claims that the firm is to be listed on both domestic and international exchanges.
