Ahead of the 2026 WNBA season and in celebration of their partnership with the New York Liberty, Ant International hosted a U.S. event where Leiming Chen, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant International, laid out the vision for the intersection of technology and sports to expand the horizon of community action.

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(L-R) Jenner Balagot, Director of Global Affairs and Strategic Development for the Americas of Ant International; Leiming Chen, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant International; Fan Li, Head of Responsible Supply Chain, Greater China of Nike; Shana Stephenson, Chief Brand Officer of the New York Liberty

 

Ant International’s Alipay+ entered into a multi-year partnership with the New York Liberty in 2025, becoming the team’s official sponsor and innovation partner for sustainability. The collaboration focuses on three transformative pillars in the community of New York City – community empowerment, environmental sustainability, and youth development.

Aligned with New York Liberty’s impact goals to advocating for underserved communities, Alipay+ shares a similar aspiration to boost local economies through connectivity and inclusivity. As of today, Alipay+, as a unified wallets gateway, has partnered with over 40 mobile payment and banking partners globally, collectively enabled more inclusive and affordable digital payment methods for more than 150 million merchants worldwide, including many of them in the U.S., to reach more than 1.8 billion user accounts in over 70 destination markets. As digital e-wallet and app payments gain popularity in Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, these digital native users will become key driver for cross-border tourism and payment transactions.

Empowering Communities

In December 2025, Alipay+ joined the Liberty for their Shoe Sorting Day as part of the team’s Season of Giving. Volunteers from Alipay+ and the New York Liberty donated sneakers with handwritten notes for students across New York City.

Winning for New York, Winning for Earth

Alipay+ is championing urban reforestation efforts with the Liberty’s “Threes for Trees” initiative. For every three-pointer the team makes at home during the season, the Liberty will plant a tree in partnership with Alipay+, giving fans and players a way to tangibly contribute to conservation efforts.

Bridging the Divide, Supporting Young Innovators

Alipay+ and the New York Liberty share a commitment to enabling the next generation to thrive with ever-expanding capacities and skills. The program, Math Hoops, leverages the game of basketball and the NBA and WNBA brands to build fundamental math skills through physical and digital basketball-themed board games, curriculum, and community program experiences. This STEM program helps develop students’ algebra readiness prior to entering high school, while strengthening their decision-making skills. By combining the universal language of sports and building digital skills, the partners aim to bridge the digital divide for underprivileged communities and inspire the next generation of leaders.

Ant International, with the mission “to make it easy to do business anywhere, bringing small and beautiful changes to the world”, began its partnership with New York Liberty last year, bringing together New York Liberty’s incredible talent, passion, and teamwork with Ant International’s commitment to sustainability and digital innovation.

“Sustainability is a core value to the New York Liberty, and working with partners like Alipay+ inspires us to infuse sustainability and community engagement into everything we do,” said Shana Stephenson, Chief Brand Officer of the New York Liberty. “We are extremely excited about our partnership for this new season of initiatives, such as our Threes for Trees program.”

“The New York Liberty’s existing environmental initiatives made us natural partners for social impact collaboration,” said Leiming Chen, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Ant International. “This partnership enables us to leverage sports as a universal language that transcends culture, religion, and geography to engage the public directly in meaningful social impact programs.”

Chen and Stephenson spoke at Ant International’s U.S. Merchant Forum in San Francisco. The event brought together merchants and partners of Ant International in the Americas to explore new growth avenues in APAC, especially through developing innovative solutions that enhance efficiency and security across mainstream and alternative payment methods.

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