Alibaba's financial and payment affiliate Ant Financial will invest $200 million in the mobile finance subsidiary of South Korea's smartphone messaging and social networking platform Kakao Corp as the Chinese company continues to expand globally.
The two parties will share payment resources and include more offline merchants to accept payment through both Kakao and Ant Financial's mobile payment tools.
Kakao decided in January to form a separate entity for its Kakao Pay financial service, and the investment will see Ant Financial offer its offline, banking and financial services through Kakao Pay in South Korea.
Kakao has 48 million users, and the alliance with Alipay is set to boost its capability in mobile payment, risk control, cloud computing and innovative financial services.
"South Korea is an important market for Ant Financial in its global expansion," Douglas Fea-gin, president of Ant Financial International, said yesterday.
