China's leading online-payment platform provider, Alipay, is set to receive $731 million over the next three years from its parent, Alibaba Group of Hangzhou.
The unit will use the investment to expand its business. Besides hiring more staff, upgrading technology and buying more facilities, Alipay will invest in mobile-payment development to "meet different demands from its users," Peng Lei, its chief executive, said in a press release.
Alipay's service is similar to PayPal. It helps process payments when buying and selling on Alibaba's business-to-business online marketplaces and other third-party client sites. Buyers make payments by linking their MasterCard or Visa credit cards to their Alipay account, and as with PayPal, buyers do not expose their card details when shopping online.
Alipay services support online shopping, hotel reservations and online gaming. It also has payment platforms for mobile phones, including Apple Inc.'s iPhone. Through March, Alipay had more than 300 million registered users.
