Chinese billionaire and entrepreneur Jack Ma’s Ant Financial is looking to raise $1 billion for a fund to invest in startups in India and some Southeast Asian countries to help strengthen its grasp in markets where mobile internet is growing rapidly.
According to a Bloomberg report, the company is looking to invest in those regions where online finance and payment platforms are thriving.
Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group owns Ant Financial and has also invested in Indian startups like Paytm and Zomato.
Ant Financial’s Vice President Ji Gang told attendees at a press conference hosted in Beijing that the company is looking to raise the fund, but didn’t mention the exact amount nor the potential regions it will be targeting.
The company is looking to expand outside its borders due to the slowdown in growth at home especially when its battling Tencent Holdings for a major share in the mobile payments and financial sector.
In the past five years, its local e-wallet partners had garnered almost 1.2 billion users globally.
Ant Financial has also said that it’s looking to seek a virtual banking licence in Singapore.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)