WeChat, a messaging app owned by Chinese holding company Tencent added nearly 200 million monthly active users last year. At the end of December, the company had over 697 million monthly active users according to its 2015 earnings report.
Although Tencent did not disclose any information on how many of WeChat’s users are in mainland China vs other areas, it’s clear that the app is focused on mainland China because of the numerous features that are available only to its home nation.
WeChat payments for payments and transferring money between people is one of its most popular feature. In January alone, the company handled over US$46.1 million for its financial services. WeChat does not charge any fee when users make payments or do transfers.
No precise figure was given, but the company revealed that the monthly active uses of WeChat Pay Monthly active users of WeChat Pay have grown seven-fold from 2014 to 2015. Alibaba’s Alipay is WeChat Pay’s biggest rival as they both offer in-store mobile payments which is common across their home country.
