Alipay's rise and Ant Financial integration (2004–2016)

1. Alipay created to add escrow for Taobao

   Jan 1, 2004Labels: Alipay, Taobao

   • Taobao
   • Alipay

2. Alipay begins expanding beyond website checkout

   Jan 1, 2008Labels: Alipay, Third-party payments

   • Alipay
   • Taobao

3. Alipay starts pushing mobile phone payments

   May 7, 2009Labels: Alipay, Mobile payments

   • ChinaTechNews
   • Alipay

4. China begins licensing third-party payment firms

   Jun 1, 2010Labels: People's Bank, Third-party licensing

   • ChinaDaily
   • Alipay

5. PBOC grants Alipay a payment license

   May 27, 2011Labels: Alipay, PBOC license

   • ChinaDaily
   • ChinaDaily

6. Alipay Wallet relaunch emphasizes everyday spending

   Jan 18, 2013Labels: Alipay Wallet, Mobile app

   • TNW
   • CNBC

7. Yu’e Bao launches inside Alipay

   Jun 13, 2013Labels: Yu'e Bao, Tianhong

   • Caixin
   • Tianhong

8. Alibaba buys controlling stake in Tianhong

   Oct 1, 2013Labels: Alibaba, Tianhong

   • Tianhong Wiki
   • ChinaDaily

9. Zhaocaibao planned as second major finance push

   Nov 20, 2013Labels: Zhaocaibao, Alipay

   • ChinaDaily
   • Alibaba Group Wiki

10. Ant Financial launches to unify Alipay-led services

    Oct 16, 2014Labels: Ant Financial, Alipay

    • Ant Group
    • ECNS

11. Restructuring between Alibaba and Ant closes

    Feb 10, 2015Labels: Alibaba, Ant Financial

    • Alibaba
    • Ant Group

12. Sesame Credit begins offering individual scores

    Mar 2, 2015Labels: Sesame Credit, Ant Financial

    • Caixin
    • Zhima Credit

13. Ant Financial confirms major funding round

    Jul 3, 2015Labels: Ant Financial, Funding round

    • TechCrunch
    • Ant Group

14. Ant Financial raises $4.5B, scaled to 450M users

    Apr 26, 2016Labels: Ant Financial, Alipay

    • CNBC
    • Ant Group