(Reuters) -Singapore’s Ant International, which operates the digital payments interface Alipay+, on Thursday disclosed an investment in Latin America lending company R2 to expand credit access for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the region.
The investment, the total value of which remains undisclosed, includes a primary capital injection by Ant International and leverages its advanced risk capabilities and R2’s infrastructure to enhance financing solutions for SMEs, the company said.
Ant International was previously a unit of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group before being spun off as an independently-operated company in 2024.
Alipay+ connects about 1.8 billion user accounts with over 100 million merchants across more than 100 markets, as per their website.
The company has a significant presence in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America.
R2, founded in Mexico City in 2020, operates in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil, and has financed more than 100,000 SMEs.
The company offers revenue-based financing through partnerships with platforms such as inDrive, Uber Eats, Rappi, Haulmer, and PayU in the region.
Ant International also launched SME working capital solutions in Brazil earlier this year.
(Reporting by Adwitiya Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
