Unicorns beware: ants are on the up. Last week, Ant Financial, the online payments affiliate of Chinese e-retailer Alibaba, became the largest Chinese private company on record, kicking off a funding round that would value the company as highly as $60bn. That puts it in second place worldwide behind Uber of the US, whose most recent fundraising valued that company at more than $60bn.

独角兽们请注意：蚂蚁正爬上来。中国电子零售集团阿里巴巴(Alibaba)旗下在线支付公司蚂蚁金服(Ant Financial)正在进行新一轮融资，对蚂蚁金服的估值将达到最多600亿美元，使其成为中国有记录以来最大的私人公司。这也意味着蚂蚁金服在世界范围内将仅落后于美国的优步(Uber)，后者最新一轮融资对其估值为逾600亿美元。

Big numbers for a nominally small creature, in Ant Financial’s case, but online payment has big potential in China. Consumers there are well ahead of their US counterparts in online shopping. Credit Suisse estimates that in 2014 the internet accounted for 9 per cent of retail sales in China, compared with 6 per cent in the US. And online payment is not limited to buying goods for home delivery: Chinese shoppers frequently use mobile payment apps to settle anything from taxi fares to restaurant bills. The broker reckons that over $3tn in transactions were closed online last year.

对于一家叫做“蚂蚁”的公司而言，蚂蚁金服的估值数字倒挺大，不过这不奇怪——在线支付在中国拥有巨大的潜力。在网购方面，中国消费者比美国消费者超前得多。据瑞信(Credit Suisse)估算，2014年，互联网占中国零售业销售额的9%，而在美国，这一比例为6%。而且，在线支付也不仅限于网购商品：中国消费者经常用各种移动支付应用结算各种费用——从打车费到餐厅账单。瑞信估计，中国去年有逾3万亿美元的交易是在线结算的。

Ant Financial has over half the market. Internet rival Tencent has market share of one-fifth with its system Tenpay; China’s near-monopoly renminbi credit card settlement provider, China UnionPay, has 6 per cent. Meanwhile, in December, Apple and Samsung each announced partnerships with China UnionPay to bring their payment systems to China.

蚂蚁金服占据逾一半的在线结算市场。阿里巴巴的互联网竞争对手腾讯(Tencent)旗下的财付通(Tenpay)占有五分之一的市场份额；在中国拥有近乎垄断地位的人民币信用卡结算服务提供商——中国银联(China UnionPay)占6%。此外在去年12月，苹果(Apple)和三星(Samsung)分别宣布与中国银联合作，在中国推出自己的支付系统。

Still, Ant Financial will not be stepped on any time soon. Its payments arm, Alipay, has an exclusive arrangement to settle Alibaba’s transactions. And while Alibaba does not have a stake in Ant Financial, exactly, it has an agreement entitling it to 37.5 per cent of all Ant Financial’s pre-tax profit (in turn, it pays a fee for settlement services). In the event of a listing, Alibaba could elect to continue the agreement, or receive a payment equal to 37.5 per cent of the equity value. This ant has a good friend who happens to be a gorilla.

不过，蚂蚁金服短期内不会被踩在脚下。蚂蚁金服旗下支付平台——支付宝(Alipay)独家代理阿里巴巴的交易结算。虽然准确地说阿里巴巴不持有蚂蚁金服的股份，但一项协议让阿里巴巴有权拿走蚂蚁金服37.5%的税前利润（反过来，阿里巴巴向蚂蚁金服支付结算服务费用）。一旦蚂蚁金服上市，阿里巴巴可以选择继续履行该协议，或收取相当于蚂蚁金服股权价值37.5%的付款。这只“蚂蚁”有一个好朋友，而这个好朋友恰好是一只“大猩猩”。