ALIBABA Group Holding Ltd.’s finance affiliate has increased the amount it’s raising to at least US$3.5 billion and gained the support of powerful investors in a record technology funding, according to people familiar with the matter.

    Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group Co., controlled by Alibaba’s billionaire founder Jack Ma, could be valued at about US$60 billion, said the sources.

    China Investment Corp., the country’s sovereign wealth fund, and an investment vehicle of China Construction Bank Corp. are leading its latest round, the sources said.

    Ant Financial, as the company is known, increased its target after gauging demand from investors, the sources said. It had sought to raise at least US$1.5 billion in only its second round of financing ahead of a potential initial public offering, a person familiar with the matter said in January.

    Ant Financial runs China’s biggest online payment service, Alipay, and controls the company that manages Yu’E Bao, the nation’s largest money market fund. The company has evolved from an outsider in an industry that needed “stirring up,” as Ma described two years ago, to an online giant now working with the largest State-owned players.

    The sovereign wealth fund will join existing heavyweights including China Construction Bank, the country’s second-largest lender, and the national social welfare fund.

    (SD-Agencies)