Chongqing - Digital Tianma (Chongqing) Information Technology Co., Ltd.'s registration recently surfaced on Tianyancha, a platform offering information on companies in China, indicating the move of its mother corporation, Ant Group, on business diversification after experiencing unsuccessful microcredit business expansion over the last few years.

Ant Group is an affiliate company of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group. The group owns the world's largest mobile payment platform, Alipay. (Photo/Campaign Asia)

The new venture, with a registered capital of 100 million yuan (roughly 14 million USD), is a joint investment by Ant Xinghe (Chongqing) Information Technology Co., Ltd. and Changsha Digital Tianma Information Technology Co., Ltd.,  which both are subsidiaries of Ant Group.

Ant Xinghe (Chongqing), established in 2017, focuses on areas like computer software and hardware development, technical consulting, and computer network engineering services. Digital Tianma (Chongqing) will broaden this scope to include internet security services, network and information security software development, and artificial intelligence applications, according to the registered information.

Ant Group has prioritized Chongqing in its corporate strategy. It established Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. in 2021 with an initial eight billion yuan, later increasing to 23 billion yuan after two funding rounds. In April last year, Ant Group and Chongqing's municipal government formed a strategic partnership to foster digital transformation, technological innovation, and rural revitalization in the city.

Ant Group, Alibaba's affiliate, operates Alipay, the world's largest mobile payment platform. After three years of diversification from a focus on finance, its digital technology has excelled, notably in innovations like TuGraph, OceanBase, and Ant Chain for supply chains and intellectual property. By 2023, Ant Group led globally in privacy computing and blockchain patents, marking its shift towards technological innovation. 

（Fan Hongyi, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)