Ant International

Fintech · Cross-Border Payments

Funding

Ant International raises $1.2 billion ahead of possible Hong Kong IPO

The capital comes largely from Ant Group and Alibaba, the very affiliates it was spun out from just two years ago.

• Ant International, the Singapore-based overseas arm of Ant Group, completed a $1.2 billion private equity fundraising round with Ant Group and Alibaba Group among the participants, as it eyes a potential Hong Kong listing.
• The firm operates digital payments and cross-border financial services platforms including Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst and Bettr, connecting over 150 million merchants with more than 2 billion consumer accounts across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.
• Proceeds will fund expansion of its merchant payment business, account management tools and enterprise financial services globally, plus deeper investment in AI technology.
• The raise exceeded an earlier market target of roughly $1 billion, and came after Ant International was reportedly valued at $10 billion prior to the round.
• Ant International only began operating independently from Ant Group in 2024, years after Chinese regulators abruptly suspended Ant Group's own planned 2020 IPO, prompting Jack Ma to cede control of the parent company.
• A successful listing would mark a symbolic return to public markets for the Ant empire, five years after regulatory intervention derailed what would have been the world's largest IPO.