UnPAY Emerges as Winner of “2018 Ali Alumni Annual Innovation Enterprise Award”

HANGZHOU, CHINA / SINGAPORE -�Media OutReach - 11 January 2019 – In
recognition of its next-generation, one-stop financial service platform, UnPAY,
has emerged as the winner of the 2018 Innovation Company Award, an annual award
hosted by Ali Alumni. Held in Hangzhou yesterday, the annual Ali Alumni New
Year Reception also unveiled the finalists of “2018 Ali Alumni Entrepreneurship
Huangpu List”. UnPAY, which is founded by Zhang Zhenghua, an Ali alumnus, was
the only finalist in a payment technology (Paytech) company to bag this
prestigious award.

 

The Ali Alumni, which
comprises over 1000-member companies, was formed by former employees of Chinese
conglomerate, Alibaba, prior to setting up their own companies. They form almost
half of the Internet and technology entrepreneurial circle in China. The “Ali
Alumni Entrepreneurship Huangpu List” which returns in its fifth-year
running, is also known as the startup barometer, that gives investors and the
market a sense of how various startups are faring. The total number of
companies published in this list exceeds 1200, with a total valuation of over
100 billion yuan.

 

As the pioneer member in Alipay,
Zhenghua initiated its first consumer product in Alipay and has been under the
spotlight since he started UnPAY. Today, UnPAY, which is
committed to building a borderless payment ecosystem, has developed into one of
the most promising full-service payment brands globally.

 

Zhenghua emphasised that UnPAY
aims to creates an open platform for payment without borders while providing integrated
payment technology services for financial institutions and merchants globally.
“Paytech is different from Fintech in that it has more technological
innovations, not only changing the payment infrastructure, payment methods but to
the extent of impacting the directions of the entire payment service and flow.”

 

“The “Ark” core
payment system which was wholly developed by UnPAY last year, has realised the
back-end capability of performing the four pillars worldwide: local collections,
exchange transfers, bank virtual accounts, and fund issuance of merchant
channels. It is also connected to over 500 mainstream payment methods in various
countries and regions”, elaborated Zhenghua. “UnPAY’s payment channel comprises
an extensive and in-depth global payment service network, which has paved the way
for its next phase of rapid development globally. Even in its nascent stage,
UnPAY’s superior platform is already favoured by governments and financial
institutions,” he added.

 

In the second half of last
year, UnPAY has established a strategic cooperation with Yiwu officials to
develop the city of Yiwu into the leading cross-border financial centre in
China. It is also in active discussions with the governments of Middle East,
Africa, and Europe regarding the construction of their advanced payment infrastructures
as well as helping them to develop into smart cities and financial technology
centres.

 

To ensure it is in tune with
local regulations and market needs, more than half of UnPAY’s international
team are local hires. Its overarching structure is underscored by a unique
payment service model and elite technical team. This “glocal” formula has
served UnPAY well, which led it to win the esteemed Fortune China Innovation
Award in November 2018.

 

Looking ahead to the future,
Zhenghua, who has over a decade of experience in the payment industry,
envisioned that UnPAY will shift its focus onto the value of institutions and
customers, now that it has achieved its goal of UN+Pay (united pay) payment or
cross-border payment. Additionally, UnPAY wants to harness technology to
deliver a more convenient, efficient and secure payment service, enabling a superior
payment experience for the global industry ecosystem. In this way, users in every
country can experience the global consumption and trade convenience brought on
by technology upgrades, and finally realise
the vision of Payment without Borders, which will eventually not rely on the
physical act of paying.