Singapore-headquartered Ant International announced that it has made a strategic investment in R2, a Latin American embedded-lending infrastructure firm.
Financial details of the transaction remain undisclosed. Ant International said the deal, which includes a primary capital injection, brings together its Global Credit Services unit and R2’s white-label, API-based platform used by digital marketplaces, payment processors, and POS providers.
Ant launched SME working-capital solutions in Brazil earlier this year as part of a broader Latin America push with local partners.
R2, founded in 2020, operates in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Brazil and says it has supported more than 100,000 SMEs through revenue-based financing distributed via partners, including inDrive, Uber Eats, Rappi, Haulmer, and PayU.
The company cites estimates that only about 13% of SME credit demand in Latin America is currently met by banks and fintechs.
According to the announcement, R2’s management will retain day-to-day control of operations. The partnership also grants R2 access to Ant International’s global credit engine, used by financial institutions and lenders to make credit decisions more efficiently.
The partnership would apply Ant International’s AI-driven risk tools to lower the cost of credit and speed underwriting on R2’s infrastructure, per the announcement.
“We are confident that we will be able to accelerate access to opportunities for businesses in the region by turning cutting-edge technologies into real, practical financing solutions,” said Quan Yu, general manager of Global Credit Services, Ant International.
Ant International is the Singapore-headquartered overseas arm of Ant Group, providing payments, digitisation and fintech services across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.
Its pillar businesses include Alipay+ (a cross-wallet acceptance network), Antom (merchant solutions), WorldFirst (cross-border business accounts/payments), ANEXT Bank (Singapore digital wholesale bank), and embedded-finance/credit services.
