China’s online mutual aid industry will reach 450 million users, or nearly 32% of the country’s population, by 2025, Ant Financial said in a white paper it published on Thursday. That figure is three times the number of users in 2019.
Out of the 150 million users who had enrolled in various online mutual aid programs in China by the end of 2019, over 100 million use Xiang Hu Bao, an online mutual aid platform housed on Alipay, Ant Financial’s online payment arm, KrAsia reported in November citing the company’s website.
Xiang Hu Bao, which means “mutual protection” in Chinese, provides participants with a basic health plan covering 100 types of serious illnesses, in which all participants collectively bear the related medical expenses.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.