Ant Financial, the China-based online payment service affiliated with e-commerce company Alibaba, closed its series A round on Friday having raised an undisclosed sum from backers including “major Chinese insurance corporations.”
The investors in the private placement included the state-owned social National Council for Social Security Fund (NSSF). NSSF acquired a 5% stake in Ant Financial, according to the Wall Street Journal, and reportedly invested at a substantial discount, TechCrunch stated.
Although the precise amount of funding raised by Ant Financial was not disclosed, TechCrunch reported that it was secured at a valuation of between $45bn and $50bn, though the WSJ placed the valuation at more than $50bn. Reports in February suggested Ant would look to raise $4bn in the placement.
Ant Financial was spun out of Alibaba in 2014, and incorporates a range of payment services including Alipay, the largest online payment platform in China by market share, as well as investment fund Yu’e Bao and digital bank MyBank.
The company currently has 400 million active users, 17 million of which are based outside of China. It has also formed a $160m venture fund that will support internet finance companies.