Ant Financial Services Group, the financial services affiliate of Alibaba Group, is seeking more funds after completing a funding round, valuing it over $45bn.
The National Social Security Fund of China led the Series A round with participation of several Chinese insurance companies and other investors.
Ant Financial has over 400 million active users and 17 million overseas users. The company operates China’s biggest money market fund, Yu’e Bao, and runs online lending service MYBank.
The company sold 12.4% of its shares to investors in its last financing round. It is planning to raise more capital from investors in order to transform the financial sector in China.
Ant Financial president Eric Jing was quoted by Bloomberg as saying, "We want to become the strongest growth engine for global Internet finance. We want to help more smaller businesses, consumers and partners and spark innovation."
The company also operates Alipay online payment platform, which executes its majority of transactions in China, both online and through mobile.
Chinese regulators have granted approvals to technology firms for participation in the country’s financial services sector.
Ant Financial’s expansion is expected to increase the revenue of Alibaba, strengthening its presence in China.
