Latest news with #EricJing
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ant Group 2024 Sustainability Report Highlights AI-Powered Digital Inclusion and New Initiatives From 3 Independent Units
HANGZHOU, China, June 30, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ant Group today published its 2024 Sustainability Report, highlighting its enhanced AI investments in advancing broad-based digital transformation. The report also shares how the group's sustainability commitments are carried onto new journeys of Ant International, Ant Digital Technologies, and OceanBase, three units that became independent following the 2024 reorganization. The Report lays out how Ant Group harnessed new technology tools, expanded partnerships in 2024 to strengthen its 4 sustainability pillars: Technological Innovation, AI-Powered Digital Inclusion, Green and Low-Carbon Development, and Openness & Trustworthiness. "2024 marks the 20th anniversary of Alipay and Ant Group. Over the past two decades, we have remained committed to leveraging innovation to make quality services more accessible for small entrepreneurs and ordinary consumers, so that the business and the life they treasure may flourish because of the work we do," wrote Eric Jing, Chairman of Ant Group and Cyril Han, CEO of Ant Group in a letter at the beginning of the Report. "Technology matters not only when it soars above the stars, but even more when it puts light and warmth across our streets and neighborhoods. At the dawn of the age of AI, we are empowered to do more and better for small businesses and individuals." Technological Innovation To drive continuous innovation for consumers, SMEs and partners, Ant Group has increased R&D investment for four consecutive years since 2021, reaching a record high of RMB 23.45 billion (~USD 3.26 billion) in 2024 (up 10.7% YoY).1 130 million users have accessed the Company's AI-powered services connecting them with providers in healthcare, finance and everyday services. (43% from lower-tier cities) 24,000+ businesses adopted Ant's enterprise solutions (AI, blockchain, distributed databases) to improve operational efficiency. 2,000+ open-source repositories released to support developers. AI-Powered Digital Inclusion In 2024, Ant Group has made AI-powered services more accessible for its users, in sectors including healthcare, fintech and cross-border commerce. AI healthcare solutions for hospitals, doctors and users By harnessing AI, Ant Group has been enhancing operational efficiency, personalizing patient care, and empowering medical institutions, doctors, and insurers to deliver more effective and tailored healthcare solutions. AI healthcare app "AQ": 70 million+ users by June 2025. AI medical insurance assistant: 80% faster claim processing for insurers. Digital payment & finance for SMEs With digital payment and finance innovation, Ant Group, together with its affiliates, has served more than 100 million SMEs. Following QR code payment in 2011 and Smile-to-Pay in 2018, Ant Group launched Alipay Tap! in July 2024, a QR code-based contactless payment and customer engagement solution. As of April 2025, Alipay Tap! has won over 100 million users in just 11 months. FamilyMart's member orders rose by 40% within the first month of Alipay Tap! integration. Alipay's AI-enhanced merchant services further reduce costs and boost efficiency. In 2024, the annual transaction volume of merchant operated mini-programs grew 39% YoY. New advances in sustainability from 3 independently operated businesses Ant Digital Technologies, OceanBase and Ant International, the three businesses that have been operating independently since 2024 have been making steady progress in sustainability. Supporting the digital & green transformation of industries - Ant Digital Technologies: AntChain's trusted on-chain technology has been widely applied across the new energy sector, including electric vehicles, batteries, and photovoltaic panels, with over 12 million devices cumulatively connected to its blockchain. In December 2024, GCL Energy Technology Co., Ltd., a leader in the clean energy sector successfully completed the first-ever Real World Asset Tokenization (RWA) issuance in China's photovoltaic industry, securing 200 million yuan in cross-border financing, proving that physical assets can be digitized and financed on the blockchain. Making AI-ready distributed database accessible for enterprise clients - OceanBase: Expanded number of clients from over 1,000 to over 2,000 (100% YoY). Distributed database products have been upgraded to meet the database demand of the AI era, widely adopted across industries including finance, telecommunications, retail, Internet, and public services. Enabling global connections in travel, empowering global commerce in trade and enabling the underserved to thrive - Ant International: In travel, Alipay+ has enabled inclusive and affordable payment options for more than 100 million businesses in over 70 tourist destination markets. In trade, WorldFirst has enabled over 1.2 million SMEs to sell their products and services across more than 200 markets with its one-stop cross-border account and treasury services. In 2024, AI-powered Credit Tech solutions, ANEXT Bank and Ant Bank (Hong Kong) helped extend lending and other inclusive financial services to over 15 million users in emerging markets, mostly from the SME community. For more details on Ant International's sustainability progress, please refer to Ant International 2024 Sustainability Report. "Integrating commercial and social value creation isn't just our choice when we started – it is our guiding North Star," wrote Sabrina Peng, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant Group. "Meaningful change grows in daily action, not in words. By integrating commercial and social value creation, we hope to do our part in building a better world – especially for the general public and small businesses." Note: Since 2017, Ant Group has been publishing an annual sustainability report, following the Global Reporting Initiative standards. All figures in the release are as of December 31, 2024 unless otherwise specified. The 2024 Sustainability Report is available in Chinese. The English-language version will be available on Ant Group's official website soon. About Ant Group Ant Group aims to build the infrastructure and platforms to support the digital transformation of the service industry. Through continuous innovation, we strive to provide all consumers and small and micro businesses equal access to digital financial and other daily life services that are convenient, sustainable and inclusive. For more information, please visit our website at or follow us on Twitter @AntGroup. 1 Source: Ant Group Sustainability Reports (2022 to 2024) View source version on Contacts Media inquiries:Rosa Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Wire
30-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Ant Group 2024 Sustainability Report Highlights AI-Powered Digital Inclusion and New Initiatives From 3 Independent Units
BUSINESS WIRE)--Ant Group today published its 2024 Sustainability Report, highlighting its enhanced AI investments in advancing broad-based digital transformation. The report also shares how the group's sustainability commitments are carried onto new journeys of Ant International, Ant Digital Technologies, and OceanBase, three units that became independent following the 2024 reorganization. The Report lays out how Ant Group harnessed new technology tools, expanded partnerships in 2024 to strengthen its 4 sustainability pillars: Technological Innovation, AI-Powered Digital Inclusion, Green and Low-Carbon Development, and Openness & Trustworthiness. '2024 marks the 20th anniversary of Alipay and Ant Group. Over the past two decades, we have remained committed to leveraging innovation to make quality services more accessible for small entrepreneurs and ordinary consumers, so that the business and the life they treasure may flourish because of the work we do,' wrote Eric Jing, Chairman of Ant Group and Cyril Han, CEO of Ant Group in a letter at the beginning of the Report. 'Technology matters not only when it soars above the stars, but even more when it puts light and warmth across our streets and neighborhoods. At the dawn of the age of AI, we are empowered to do more and better for small businesses and individuals.' Technological Innovation To drive continuous innovation for consumers, SMEs and partners, Ant Group has increased R&D investment for four consecutive years since 2021, reaching a record high of RMB 23.45 billion (~USD 3.26 billion) in 2024 (up 10.7% YoY). 1 130 million users have accessed the Company's AI-powered services connecting them with providers in healthcare, finance and everyday services. (43% from lower-tier cities) 24,000+ businesses adopted Ant's enterprise solutions (AI, blockchain, distributed databases) to improve operational efficiency. 2,000+ open-source repositories released to support developers. AI-Powered Digital Inclusion In 2024, Ant Group has made AI-powered services more accessible for its users, in sectors including healthcare, fintech and cross-border commerce. AI healthcare solutions for hospitals, doctors and users By harnessing AI, Ant Group has been enhancing operational efficiency, personalizing patient care, and empowering medical institutions, doctors, and insurers to deliver more effective and tailored healthcare solutions. AI healthcare app 'AQ': 70 million+ users by June 2025. AI medical insurance assistant: 80% faster claim processing for insurers. Digital payment & finance for SMEs With digital payment and finance innovation, Ant Group, together with its affiliates, has served more than 100 million SMEs. Following QR code payment in 2011 and Smile-to-Pay in 2018, Ant Group launched Alipay Tap! in July 2024, a QR code-based contactless payment and customer engagement solution. As of April 2025, Alipay Tap! has won over 100 million users in just 11 months. FamilyMart's member orders rose by 40% within the first month of Alipay Tap! integration. Alipay's AI-enhanced merchant services further reduce costs and boost efficiency. In 2024, the annual transaction volume of merchant operated mini-programs grew 39% YoY. New advances in sustainability from 3 independently operated businesses Ant Digital Technologies, OceanBase and Ant International, the three businesses that have been operating independently since 2024 have been making steady progress in sustainability. Supporting the digital & green transformation of industries - Ant Digital Technologies: AntChain's trusted on-chain technology has been widely applied across the new energy sector, including electric vehicles, batteries, and photovoltaic panels, with over 12 million devices cumulatively connected to its blockchain. In December 2024, GCL Energy Technology Co., Ltd., a leader in the clean energy sector successfully completed the first-ever Real World Asset Tokenization (RWA) issuance in China's photovoltaic industry, securing 200 million yuan in cross-border financing, proving that physical assets can be digitized and financed on the blockchain. Making AI-ready distributed database accessible for enterprise clients - OceanBase: Expanded number of clients from over 1,000 to over 2,000 (100% YoY). Distributed database products have been upgraded to meet the database demand of the AI era, widely adopted across industries including finance, telecommunications, retail, Internet, and public services. Enabling global connections in travel, empowering global commerce in trade and enabling the underserved to thrive - Ant International: In travel, Alipay+ has enabled inclusive and affordable payment options for more than 100 million businesses in over 70 tourist destination markets. In trade, WorldFirst has enabled over 1.2 million SMEs to sell their products and services across more than 200 markets with its one-stop cross-border account and treasury services. In 2024, AI-powered Credit Tech solutions, ANEXT Bank and Ant Bank (Hong Kong) helped extend lending and other inclusive financial services to over 15 million users in emerging markets, mostly from the SME community. For more details on Ant International's sustainability progress, please refer to Ant International 2024 Sustainability Report. 'Integrating commercial and social value creation isn't just our choice when we started – it is our guiding North Star,' wrote Sabrina Peng, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant Group. 'Meaningful change grows in daily action, not in words. By integrating commercial and social value creation, we hope to do our part in building a better world – especially for the general public and small businesses.' Note: Since 2017, Ant Group has been publishing an annual sustainability report, following the Global Reporting Initiative standards. All figures in the release are as of December 31, 2024 unless otherwise specified. The 2024 Sustainability Report is available in Chinese. The English-language version will be available on Ant Group's official website soon. About Ant Group Ant Group aims to build the infrastructure and platforms to support the digital transformation of the service industry. Through continuous innovation, we strive to provide all consumers and small and micro businesses equal access to digital financial and other daily life services that are convenient, sustainable and inclusive. For more information, please visit our website at or follow us on Twitter @AntGroup.
Business Upturn
16-06-2025
- Business
- Business Upturn
Ant International Announces Sustainability Framework, Serving 100 mn Merchants to Advance Inclusive Growth in Re-globalisation
Singapore: – The now-independent company combines techfin and sustainability work in 6T areas: travel, trade, thrive, technology, talent and trust – Company will focus on innovation and collaboration with public & private sectors across 4 business pillars: Unified global wallet gateway, unified merchant payment service, global business account service, and embedded finance service. Ant International, a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider, today announced its Sustainability Framework in its first independent Sustainability Report. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Ant International announces Sustainability Framework in its Inaugural Sustainability Report A New Chapter of Growth with New Mission and Vision at a Critical Moment 2024 is a transformative year for Ant International, which became independent after a reorganisation of Ant Group. With headquarters in Singapore and over 30 offices around the world, Ant International provides cross-border digital payment, commerce and finance solutions to merchants and financial institutions, connecting 100 million+ merchants to global consumers across its 4 business units: global e-wallet gateway service (Alipay+), merchant payment service (Antom), cross-border business account service (WorldFirst), and and embedded finance services including treasury management and credit solutions (Bettr). In its new corporate identity, Ant International's mission is tomake it easy to do business anywhere, bringing small and beautiful changes to the world. Its vision is be the most innovative and trusted digital partner to bring inclusive growth to all. The management reiterated that in the face of global economic turbulence, de-globalisation threats, and new risks of digital divide, tech companies need to enhance, not weaken their social commitments with concrete action. 'The call for action on the digital tech community has never been so urgent: we need to take action to ensure innovation works for the many, not the few, so we can build a truly inclusive and sustainable global economy for the next generation,' said Eric Jing, Chairman of Ant International, in his opening message. Yang Peng, Chief Executive Officer, and Douglas Feagin, President of Ant International, said, 'We firmly believe that through our sustainability and business efforts, coupled with practical technological innovation, we can actively practice and promote a new, more inclusive, and broader 're-globalisation'.' 6T Principle Focuses on SMEs for Inclusive Growth and Re-globalising Commerce The Sustainability Framework is anchored on an integration of social value and business value creation across its 6T Sustainability Areas. The Report shared highlights as of 2024 in these areas: to enable global connections in Travel ; ; to empower global commerce in Trade ; ; to enable the underserved to Thrive ; ; to harness Technology to drive open innovation; to drive open innovation; to nurture digital Talent to support local growth; to support local growth; to strengthen digital Trust for a resilient digital ecosystem. Payment: Promoting Global Connectivity with Travel and Trade In travel, Alipay+ has enabled inclusive and affordable payment options globally, connecting more than 1.7 billion user accounts via partnerships with 36 e-wallets and 6 national QR schemes. Over 90% of offline Alipay+ merchants are SMEs. In trade, WorldFirst has enabled over 1.2 million SMEs to sell their products and services across more than 200 markets, and processed payments of cumulative transaction value of around USD 100 billion in 100+ currencies in 2024. In digital commerce, AI-enabled solutions help merchants reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance security. Antom Copilot, the AI payment assistant, cuts the time required for payment integration by 90%. Beyond Payment: Democratising Technology for SMEs to Thrive With its Wallet Tech capabilities, Ant International has helped accelerate sustainable digital economic growth for 31 partners across 23 markets. Today, the company focuses on developing AI-powered fintech solutions to enhance growth and security for merchants and fintech partners. In the fast-growing Embedded Finance unit, Falcon, a ground-breaking Time-Series Transformer (TST) FX Model, helps SMEs cope with cross-border liquidity volatility more effectively with an hourly demand prediction accuracy of over 90%. In 2024, AI-powered Credit Tech solutions, ANEXT Bank and Ant Bank (Hong Kong) helped extend lending and other inclusive financial services to over 15 millionusers in emerging markets, mostly from the SME community. Collaboration on Trust and Talent to Drive Sustainable Growth Ant International works to build a trust-based and future-ready digital ecosystem in collaboration with regulators, international organisations and over 1,000 financial institutions. The company invests in 2 pillars of Trust: a comprehensive, robust compliance structure, and AI-security capabilities and solutions. The company has started to share its trusted AI capabilities, such as anti-deepfake expertise, with the broader community. Such collaboration expands to other community and global initiatives, ranging from MSME sustainability credentials and financing innovations, to joint research efforts on advancing privacy-enhancing technology to strengthen digital trust. The 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion Programme, now in its 7th year, has provided training on fintech and digital innovation to 7,157 talents across 110 countries and regions. Earlier at the Point Zero Forum in Zurich in May 2025, global leaders and policymakers joined the soft launch event of Ant International's inaugural Sustainability Report. Mr. Sing Chiong Leong, Deputy Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), was the guest of honour and delivered opening remarks at the event. Ms. Nan Li Collins, Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative, who joined the event as a keynote speaker, resonated with Ant International's commitment to bring equal access and growth opportunities for SMEs through trade. 'While the digital economy is booming, developing countries still face a critical gap in essential infrastructure investment – a challenge we must address to ensure no one is left behind in the global transition to sustainable growth.' Chen Leiming, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant International, also commented, 'Sustainability must be inclusive to be effective. At Ant International, by integrating sustainability into how we innovate, operate and grow, we ensure that every business outcome is also a step towards long-term societal progress.' About Ant International With headquarters in Singapore and main operations across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider. Through collaboration across the private and public sectors, our unified techfin platform supports financial institutions and merchants of all sizes to achieve inclusive growth through a comprehensive range of cutting-edge digital payment and financial services solutions. To learn more, please visit View source version on Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with Business Wire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Business Wire
16-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Ant International Announces Sustainability Framework, Serving 100 mn Merchants to Advance Inclusive Growth in Re-globalisation
SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ant International, a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider, today announced its Sustainability Framework in its first independent Sustainability Report. A New Chapter of Growth with New Mission and Vision at a Critical Moment 2024 is a transformative year for Ant International, which became independent after a reorganisation of Ant Group. With headquarters in Singapore and over 30 offices around the world, Ant International provides cross-border digital payment, commerce and finance solutions to merchants and financial institutions, connecting 100 million+ merchants to global consumers across its 4 business units: global e-wallet gateway service (Alipay+), merchant payment service (Antom), cross-border business account service (WorldFirst), and embedded finance services including treasury management and credit solutions (Bettr). In its new corporate identity, Ant International's mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere, bringing small and beautiful changes to the world. Its vision is be the most innovative and trusted digital partner to bring inclusive growth to all. The management reiterated that in the face of global economic turbulence, de-globalisation threats, and new risks of digital divide, tech companies need to enhance, not weaken their social commitments with concrete action. 'The call for action on the digital tech community has never been so urgent: we need to take action to ensure innovation works for the many, not the few, so we can build a truly inclusive and sustainable global economy for the next generation,' said Eric Jing, Chairman of Ant International, in his opening message. Yang Peng, Chief Executive Officer, and Douglas Feagin, President of Ant International, said, 'We firmly believe that through our sustainability and business efforts, coupled with practical technological innovation, we can actively practice and promote a new, more inclusive, and broader 're-globalisation'.' 6T Principle Focuses on SMEs for Inclusive Growth and Re-globalising Commerce The Sustainability Framework is anchored on an integration of social value and business value creation across its 6T Sustainability Areas. The Report shared highlights as of 2024 in these areas: to enable global connections in Travel; to empower global commerce in Trade; to enable the underserved to Thrive; to harness Technology to drive open innovation; to nurture digital Talent to support local growth; to strengthen digital Trust for a resilient digital ecosystem. Payment: Promoting Global Connectivity with Travel and Trade In travel, Alipay+ has enabled inclusive and affordable payment options globally, connecting more than 1.7 billion user accounts via partnerships with 36 e-wallets and 6 national QR schemes. Over 90% of offline Alipay+ merchants are SMEs. In trade, WorldFirst has enabled over 1.2 million SMEs to sell their products and services across more than 200 markets, and processed payments of cumulative transaction value of around USD 100 billion in 100+ currencies in 2024. In digital commerce, AI-enabled solutions help merchants reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance security. Antom Copilot, the AI payment assistant, cuts the time required for payment integration by 90%. Beyond Payment: Democratising Technology for SMEs to Thrive With its Wallet Tech capabilities, Ant International has helped accelerate sustainable digital economic growth for 31 partners across 23 markets. Today, the company focuses on developing AI-powered fintech solutions to enhance growth and security for merchants and fintech partners. In the fast-growing Embedded Finance unit, Falcon, a ground-breaking Time-Series Transformer (TST) FX Model, helps SMEs cope with cross-border liquidity volatility more effectively with an hourly demand prediction accuracy of over 90%. In 2024, AI-powered Credit Tech solutions, ANEXT Bank and Ant Bank (Hong Kong) helped extend lending and other inclusive financial services to over 15 million users in emerging markets, mostly from the SME community. Collaboration on Trust and Talent to Drive Sustainable Growth Ant International works to build a trust-based and future-ready digital ecosystem in collaboration with regulators, international organisations and over 1,000 financial institutions. The company invests in 2 pillars of Trust: a comprehensive, robust compliance structure, and AI-security capabilities and solutions. The company has started to share its trusted AI capabilities, such as anti-deepfake expertise, with the broader community. Such collaboration expands to other community and global initiatives, ranging from MSME sustainability credentials and financing innovations, to joint research efforts on advancing privacy-enhancing technology to strengthen digital trust. The 10x1000 Tech for Inclusion Programme, now in its 7 th year, has provided training on fintech and digital innovation to 7,157 talents across 110 countries and regions. Earlier at the Point Zero Forum in Zurich in May 2025, global leaders and policymakers joined the soft launch event of Ant International's inaugural Sustainability Report. Mr. Sing Chiong Leong, Deputy Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), was the guest of honour and delivered opening remarks at the event. Ms. Nan Li Collins, Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative, who joined the event as a keynote speaker, resonated with Ant International's commitment to bring equal access and growth opportunities for SMEs through trade. 'While the digital economy is booming, developing countries still face a critical gap in essential infrastructure investment - a challenge we must address to ensure no one is left behind in the global transition to sustainable growth.' Chen Leiming, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant International, also commented, 'Sustainability must be inclusive to be effective. At Ant International, by integrating sustainability into how we innovate, operate and grow, we ensure that every business outcome is also a step towards long-term societal progress.' About Ant International With headquarters in Singapore and main operations across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider. Through collaboration across the private and public sectors, our unified techfin platform supports financial institutions and merchants of all sizes to achieve inclusive growth through a comprehensive range of cutting-edge digital payment and financial services solutions. To learn more, please visit
Reuters
21-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
AI startup Genspark raises $100 million to compete with Google, source says
Feb 21 (Reuters) - Search startup Genspark has raised $100 million in a series A funding round, valuing the startup at $530 million, according to a source familiar with the matter, as the race to use artificial intelligence to disrupt Google's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab stranglehold on the search engine market heats up. The Palo Alto-based company currently has over 2 million monthly active users, and the round was led by a group of U.S. and Singapore-based investors, the source said. The company raised a $60 million seed round last June. Its CEO Eric Jing led Baidu's ( opens new tab AI-powered smartphone and smart speaker Xiaodu unit. Genspark is one of a number of startups attempting to uproot the search engine market dominated by Alphabet's Google. AI-generated search results can offer a single answer with citations, a potential user experience improvement compared to Google's link lists. Google itself is experimenting with AI search results, while OpenAI's ChatGPT recently integrated internet search capabilities. Another big player in the AI search space, Perplexity, has raised funds valuing it at $9 billion. According to its blog, Genspark says it has developed a feature capable of using multiple AI models that work together to conduct in-depth research online. OpenAI, Perplexity and have also released similar products.
