Ant International has completed a Series A financing round worth about $1.2 billion, according to a report by The Paper cited by PANews.
Participants in the round included Ant Group, some existing shareholders including Alibaba, and several internationally known investment institutions. The company said the capital will be used to expand its global business, step up investment in frontier technologies such as AI, and broaden inclusive fintech services including cross-border payments and global accounts to help merchants grow worldwide.
Board setup and market-facing structure
On March 19, 2024, Eric Jing announced that Ant International, OceanBase, and Ant Digital Technologies, all under Ant Group, had each established their own boards and would operate independently in the market. Ant International is currently chaired by Eric Jing.
Ant International covers major markets across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. It connects more than 150 million merchants globally and over 2 billion consumer accounts, with innovation, settlement, and operations centers in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Four business segments
Ant International currently operates four main business segments: Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst, and Bettr. These units focus on improving global payment connectivity, developing technology-driven solutions including AI-based merchant payments, treasury management, and fintech services, while building broad cooperation networks with financial institutions, technology companies, and merchants in China and overseas.