HONG KONG—Ant Group, the startup controlled by billionaire Jack Ma that is gearing up for a blockbuster two-part initial public offering, wants potential investors to see it as a technology company and not a financial services firm.

The company, however, remains in focus with China’s financial regulators—which isn’t surprising given that Ant’s mobile-payments network, Alipay, has a billion users in China and in just a few years, Ant has changed how many people spend, borrow, save and invest.