Alibaba’s Finance Arm Invests $35M In Data Firm

Alibaba’s finance arm, Ant Financial, has further expanded their fintech empire with a new investment in Chinese finance data provider Shanghai Suntime Information Technology (朝阳永续).

According to a source who spoke to Reuters news agency, the Alibaba affiliate invested $35 million USD for one fifth of the data company. The injection makes Ant Financial the second largest stakeholder in the company, behind company chairman Liao Bing.

Shanghai Suntime provides a range of finance-related services, including a high-level wealth management platform for tracking the performance of hedge funds and other large asset groups. The company is also performs data analysis and earnings forecast services for listed companies.

Ant Financial, which oversees a range of finance and insurance services, including China’s most popular online payment service Alipay, raised $4.5 billion USD in April to fuel additional investments. The company is currently valued at around $60 billion USD.

Last week Alibaba CEO Jack Ma said he foresees a Hong Kong listing for Ant Financial, unlike Alibaba which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in late 2014.