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.