IJR News — today's news from every sideAnt International secures $1.2B for global payments expansionBusiness — Jul 21, 2026Ant International raised about $1.2 billion in a Series A, with participation from Ant Group and Alibaba as it pursues global expansion in merchant payments, account management and other financial services, while integrating AI across its infrastructure. The Singapore-based unit, spun out in 2024, operates four units—Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst and Bettr—across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, serving roughly 150 million merchants and 2 billion user accounts and was valued at about $10 billion prior to the funding.
FalconTST 2.0 Rolling Out Across Six Banks — Aug 20, 2026Ant International launched Falcon Time-Series Transformer Model 2.0, signing six major banks including Citi, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, and Barclays to apply the AI for cross-border payments, FX risk, and liquidity management as part of a broader push to embed specialized AI in finance. The model boasts a leading time-series benchmark with over 93% forecast accuracy, a MASE of 0.666, and the company has highlighted a $1.2 billion fundraising last month to expand its use across industries such as aviation, e-commerce, and logistics.
