Alipay continued to expand its US presence through a deal to trial mobile payments for goods provided by food supplier Han Feng.

The food company will enable its merchants in the states of New York and North Carolina to accept payments via Alipay, the mobile payment platform operated by China’s Ant Financial Services.

Ultimately, though, the agreement holds the potential to open the door to a total of 14,000 Han Feng merchants in 22 US states to Alipay, if the companies opt to extend the initial agreement.

Souheil Badran, president of Alipay North America, said Han Feng will provide “an experience that combines discovery and payment”, referring to features enabling users to locate nearby merchants and receive coupons.

Han Feng CFO, Jonathan Ni, said the partnership will maximise Alipay’s visibility in the US while also “bringing our merchant partners access to a new revenue stream”.

The deal is another boost for Alipay’s presence in the US market, following an agreement signed with point of sale (PoS) technology provider First Data in May covering the use of Alipay’s app at 4 million businesses using the PoS company’s systems.

Alipay currently has over 520 million active users, who can access a total of 19 different currencies, the company stated.