Jack Ma of Alibaba and Ant Financial.
Alibaba’s financial arm, Ant Financial, is reportedly making its first investment in the Philippines. This is through the company that runs Globe GCash.
Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc., which is also known as Mynt, operates Globe GCash and Fuse Lending. The company’s mission is “to address financial inclusion through mobile money, micro-loans and technology”.
Meanwhile, Ant Financial Services Group operates Alipay. It’s the world’s leading third-party payment platform. Last month, the company also announced that it is buying MoneyGram for $880 million.
The Globe GCash App.
When the transaction with Mynt is completed, Ant Financial will own a ‘substantial minority’ of the company while Globe Capital Venture Holdings (GCVHI) still takes the majority.
GCVHII is a joint venture of Globe Telecom and Ayala Corp.. Hence, Globe will take the majority share in Mynt while Ayala gets a minority stake.
Ant Financial will provide capital for Mynt to expand GCash and Fuse Lending.
Ant Financial’s decision to invest in Mynt doesn’t just represents the huge growth of Jack Ma’s empire. It also shows that tech companies and startups in the Philippines can already compete with those in other countries.
This should increase the morale and confidence of Pinoy startups to continue pursuing their dreams.
