Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent Holdings has acquired a 5 per cent stake in buy now pay later specialist Afterpay, raising the prospect of collaboration between the two companies on future projects.

In a statement to the ASX on Friday, Afterpay co-founders Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar described Tencent as a “strategic investor” in the business. Tencent’s stake is worth close to A$400 million.

Among its many business activities, Tencent’s Weixin Pay service claims to be the biggest mobile payments platform in China, with one billion transactions daily.

Eisen and Molnar said: “Tencent’s investment provides us with the opportunity to learn from one of the world’s most successful digital platform businesses. To be able to tap into Tencent’s vast experience and network is valuable, as is the potential to collaborate in areas such as technology, geographic expansion and future payment options on the Afterpay platform.”

In its March quarter update, Afterpay reported that it had 8.4 million active customers worldwide, growing at 122 per cent over the year to March. It has 48,400 active merchants and underling sales in the March quarter were worth $2.6 billion.

Its cash position has grown from $425.6 million at the end of December to $541 million at the end of March. It has debt of $355.7 million – down from $416.9 million in December.

It has $1.2 billion of warehouse funding facilities with three providers and has $662 million of headroom under those facilities.

Eisen said the company had no need to raise additional capital.

The company adjusted its risk management settings last month, tightening spending limits and targeting lower risk product categories. It made a change to its payment formula where Australian consumers pay the first instalment at the time of purchase (this was already in place in the United States and the United Kingdom).