Leading global ridesharing company, Uber inks a global partership with Alipay, a Chinese online payment firm owned by Alibaba with 450 million active users to enable Chinese travelers to seamlessly request and pay for Uber rides from either the Uber or Alipay app, in all 400+ cities where Uber operates. The parnership also includes India-based, Paytm that wil see a similar service being made available to its users within the next month.
According to Uber, the collaboration enables a frictionless in-app integration at a global scale, making international travel even quicker and easier for Alipay’s over 450 million active users, who can now request and pay for rides with the push of a button.
Uber riders have been able to use Alipay to pay for their rides in the Chinese Mainland since 2014, and Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau since early 2016; however, until now, Chinese riders using the Uber app internationally needed to connect a dual-currency credit card to their account, and were billed for their rides in U.S. dollars. The partnership with Alipay will enable Uber riders to pay for their international rides directly in RMB using their connected Alipay accounts, eliminating the need for dual currency credit cards or currency conversion.
Eric Jing, President of Ant Financial
Alipay’s collaboration with Uber reflects a step forward of Ant Financial’s global strategy, and the collaboration also extends to the Alipay’s strategic global partners like Paytm in India.
Eric Alexander, Head of Business, Uber Asia Pacific
Chinese travelers know and love how easy it is to request and pay for Uber rides at home; now we’re excited to bring this experience to them wherever they are in the world, right from the Alipay app.
