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Ant Group has 400% more funding than any other APAC fintech company

Keith Hodges
Author 
Keith Hodges
2 minutes
February 2nd, 2023
Ant Group has 400% more funding than any other APAC fintech company
  • China accounts for 64% of APAC fintech funding
  • India has the most companies funded, but at much lower rates
  • Digital payments drive fintech investment

Ant Group, part of the Alibaba group, has $22 billion in funding according to data compiled by MoneyTransfers.com. This is four times more funding than any other fintech company in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Across the top five companies for Fintech funding, four are in China, with JD Digits ($5.37 billion), Du Xiaoman Financial ($4.8 billion) and Lu.com ($3.02 billion) and one is located in India – One97 ($4.81 billion).

China alone accounts for $36.4 billion in funding

Notably, Australia is falling behind in terms of fintech, with just one company – Airwallex ($0.8 billion) – featuring on the list.

Whilst not necessarily a reflection on the Australian economy as such, it does point to the potential that Australia is losing ground in a competitive and lucrative technological space.

The fact Australia has just one company in the top 20 funded fintech companies only tells us part of the story. The flipside is that China makes up 25% of the companies on the list, but at $36.4 billion of funding, makes up 63% of all APAC fintech funding.

This suggests that China has staked a claim to the APAC fintech market, and this dominance is going to be hard to break in the near future or long term future.

Jonathan Merry, CEO at MoneyTransfers.com

Outside of this India has the most amount of companies on the list with eight in total – however these make up just $11.13 billion in funding, less than half that of Ant Group.

Digital payments fuel fintech funding

Ant Group is an affiliate company of Alibaba Group and operates Alipay, the world’s largest mobile and online payments platform. Alipay is a widely used payment app used by Chinese nationals to make cashless payments and is seen as an equivalent to PayPal in western countries.

Outside of Ant Group, a good deal of leading fintech companies in the Asia Pacific region is in the digital payment industry – there are potentially a number of reasons for this.

For one, digital payments transaction value in China reached over 2.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. Secondly, banking and wealth management are also shifting to digital platforms, as Hong Kong now has eight digital banks as of January 2021. Traditional banks are following suit by expanding their digital capabilities – all of which could point towards an increase in different types of payments.

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Keith Hodges
Keith is an experienced Content Specialist with a rich background in both marketing and journalism within the financial sector. At MoneyTransfers.com, Keith plays a pivotal role in driving the business forward and broadening its reach in various international money transfer markets. His expertise is a key factor in the company's expansion and success.