Ant International Raises $1.2 Billion for Cross-Border Payments

This Series A equity financing will allow Ant to improve on its cross-border payments and agentic commerce offerings, the company said in a Monday (July 20) news release.

The release added that the proceeds will help boost the company’s merchant payment, account management and other financial services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and enterprises around the world.

Launched in 2024, Ant International has four main businesses — Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst and Bettr — focused on “enhancing global payment interoperability and cross-border commerce with AI-powered merchant payment, treasury and credit tech solutions,” the company added.

Ant was hoping to raise the round at a valuation of at least $10 billion, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The funding could help the company prepare to go public in Hong Kong, possibly this year, the sources said.

The Bloomberg report notes that this would relaunch a years-old process, when parent company Ant Group had been laying the groundwork for what would have been the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO).

When Chinese regulators halted the IPO, it kicked off a restructuring that led to the formation of an independent board at Ant International in 2024.

The new funding comes at a time when many SMBs are turning to FinTech companies for cross-border payments, as research from PYMNTS Intelligence has found.

Research from the report “The Cross-Border Opportunity: How Payments Innovation Can Help SMBs Go Global” shows that 36% of internationally active SMBs expect to use FinTechs or payment providers for cross-border payments, up from 30% in 2025.

The vast majority (91%) of SMBs using FinTech payment providers rated their experience as good, one of the highest-rated categories in the study.

However, banks still play a leading role in cross-border payments for SMBs, with 69% of the companies saying they expect to use traditional banks compared with 64% that relied on them in 2025.

“Taken together, the findings suggested that cross-border payments are entering a new phase,” PYMNTS wrote recently.

“Instead of searching for a single provider that can do everything, SMBs are assembling payment strategies that combine the reach of banks with the flexibility of newer digital providers,” that report said.

“As international sourcing continues to expand, the broader mix of payment options could make it easier for small businesses to compete in global markets.”