China

The Giant Ant and Global Markets

Building a giant company in a small market is impossible. The math doesn’t work.

Dispatch China 1 min read Brendan Hart
The Giant Ant and Global Markets

Jack Ma’s Ant Financial Services Group is massive

Its online payments platform completed more than $8 trillion of transactions last year — the equivalent of more than twice Germany’s gross domestic product.


Building a giant company in a small market is impossible. The math doesn’t work.

Global markets — like China’s consumer market and the United States’ financial market — have their own logic and gravitational force. These are the big leagues.

Ant’s market — still developing — is massive:

  • Ant has 620 million online payment users; Paypal has 240 million
  • Ant’s yearly transaction volume is $8.8 trillion; Mastercard’s yearly volume is $5.5 trillion
  • Ant’s money market is $219 billion; JP Morgan’s money market is $134 billion
  • Ant produces credits scores for 257 million people; FICO produces credit scores for around 200 million people

What is Capital’s market?

Cities.

Why?

Cities produce 80% of global GDP and, by 2050, will be home to nearly 9 billion people. Most cities, of all sizes, need a tremendous amount of innovation.

Give me a shout if you want to build something for global cities.

Brendan Hart

About the Author

Brendan Hart

Brendan Hart is an economist, entrepreneur, and executive advisor with two decades of experience building organizations and leading transformation across technology, defense, human capital, and government. USMC. Dartmouth. UVA-Darden.