Alibaba Partners With Qupital For SMB Financing

Alibaba is enhancing its relationship with invoice financing company Qupital, reports in AsiaOne on Thursday (March 15) said.

Their partnership means Alibaba small business sellers that are members of the platform’s Gold Supplier program will be linked to invoice financing via Qupital. The initiative follows Alibaba’s earlier investment in the alternative lender last May, marking Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund’s first investment in a Hong Kong company.

The partnership will also bridge Qupital customers to Alibaba deals and promotional offers to broaden their reach to corporate buyers on the Alibaba site.

“We are thrilled with the opportunity to extend Qupital’s financing solution to our Hong Kong customers and enable the use of our platform’s insights to help ease their cash flow challenge,” said Alibaba.com Hong Kong Business Director Rick Ng in a statement. “This collaboration will be a strong addition to the network of support services that we are building for our SME [small and medium-sized enterprise] customers.”

“This collaboration with Alibaba.com will greatly benefit Qupital and our customers, especially as a new, fast-growing FinTech company,” added Qupital Founder Winston Wong. “SMEs will enjoy invaluable opportunities and convenience within the ecosystem we are building with Alibaba.com and our partners. As a result, our clients can expect a seamless user experience that leads them to more efficient day-to-day operations.”

Last May, Alibaba’s Entrepreneurs Fund led the $2 million seed funding round for Qupital along with MindWorks Ventures. DRL Capital, Aria Group and other investors also participated. At the time, Qupital said it would use the investment to focus on technology development and geographic expansion.

Alibaba rival Amazon is also enhancing its small business finance offerings, most recently as reports revealed potential plans by the eCommerce conglomerate to develop a small business credit card for eProcurement on its platform. Amazon has also facilitated more than $3 billion in small business loans.