Ant Financial news and archive

China beats out US with highest number of 'unicorn' startups

China now has more privately-held start-ups valued by investors at over 1 billion dollars than the US, a report said Monday. There were 206 Chinese firms out of a global total of 494 ultra-valuable start-ups -- known as "unicorns" -- in June 2019, according to the research firm Hurun Report. This makes China the country with the largest number...

Retail

China's Alibaba under fire over use of customer data

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has come under fire over its handling of user data in an episode that underscores growing concerns for privacy in the hyper-digitised country. Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial was forced to apologise on Wednesday after users said they felt misled into allowing its Alipay service to share data on their spending...