Ant Group is reportedly in discussions to acquire Haodf.com, a Chinese platform that provides online consultations with doctors.
The Jack Ma-backed FinTech is interested in a deal with such a company because it is seeking new areas in which to grow and is looking to expand its artificial intelligence services in the healthcare field, Bloomberg reported Friday (Aug. 16), citing unnamed sources.
The discussions are in the early stages, according to the report.
Ant Group did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
Hoadf.com received funding from companies like Tencent Holdings and DCM Ventures and was valued at 6.5 billion yuan (about $907 million) in a 2017 funding round, per the report.
Ant Group has been expanding in AI, according to the report. Its efforts in the field include investing in video generation startup AI Sphere, receiving regulatory approval from China to launch products powered by its large language model Bailing to the public, developing language model-powered applications for wealth management and insurance services, and open-sourcing its AI-powered coding platform CodeFuse.
It was reported in May that Ant Group was expanding its business overseas to offset slowing growth in its home market of China. The company’s profits dropped 19% in the December quarter and fell 92% in the previous quarter.
Ant Group business unit Ant International’s Antom in June acquired Amsterdam-based payment service provider MultiSafepay, saying it would integrate that company with Antom’s own payment and digitization services.
“With digital innovations, we look forward to building together more secure, flexible and efficient payment solutions with cross-sector partners, for small businesses to thrive in a truly inclusive and sustainable global commerce ecosystem,” Gary Liu, general manager of Antom Global, said in a press release announcing the acquisition.
When Ant Group launched its applications for wealth management and insurance services in September, the company said the language model powering them was specifically fine-tuned for AI applications in the financial services industry.
Ant Group said this model surpasses general-purpose models in several key areas and the company intends to use it across all digital financial services in collaboration with institutions in the Chinese market.
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