Alibaba’s Ant Financial to Raise $9 Billion to Become World’s Biggest Private Financial Company

Ant Financial, the owner of Alibaba’s payment platform formerly known as Alipay, is looking to raise a staggering $9 billion in private funding, reports Wall Street Journal. This report comes in just months away from Ant Financial’s IPO.

The influx of such huge sum of cash could make Ant Financial the biggest private tech company in the world with a $150 billion valuation. This could make it the world’s largest unicorn—a term used to describe private companies valued at over $1 billion.

The company raised $4 billion in the form of equity in 2016, giving it a valuation of $60 billion. Ant Financial will list on both domestic and overseas exchanges as well, according to WSJ’s sources.

Ant Financial declined to comment on the matter.

Ant Financial

The Alibaba backed company, which holds 1/3rd of the stake, is entering the global markets rather aggressively through its payment platform. It even reached a deal to acquire MoneyGram for over $1 billion but it later fell through.

---

ALSO READ

Here’s What Ant Financial’s Entry in Pakistan Will Mean for a Common Man!

---

The company has reached an agreement with several other merchants to accept Ant Financial’s products as payment platforms. The most valuable fintech company has already vowed to invest a significant amount of money in Pakistan as well.

Ant Financial in Pakistan

Ant Financial and Telenor Microfinance Bank (TMB) signed a strategic partnership agreement where Ant Financial agreed to invest $184.5m for a 45% stake in TMB. The company announced to further develop TMB’s mobile payment and digital financial services.

The deal will see Alibaba enter Pakistan as the top mobile/online payment platform that will eventually transform how Pakistanis pay online. Currently, around 90% of the online shopping deals opt for cash-on-delivery service. Needless to say, Alipay will significantly reduce this percentage in the coming years.

The post Alibaba’s Ant Financial to Raise $9 Billion to Become World’s Biggest Private Financial Company appeared first on .