News Analysis Early investors in China’s fintech giant Ant Group thought they were in line for a massive pay day, until that all evaporated within days as Ant’s much-anticipated IPO last year was suddenly scuttled by Chinese regulators. Venture capital and private equity firms such as Silver Lake and Carlyle Group believed they had a winner in the bag. After all, they were early investors in a massively valuable startup, and the IPO process was a familiar playbook almost guaranteed to make money for early investors. The success of Ant’s $35 billion blockbuster IPO was a foregone conclusion. Until suddenly, it wasn’t. By now Ant’s failed IPO and founder Jack Ma’s rhetoric leading up to it have all been well documented. Institutional and retail investors who were slated to purchase shares in the IPO were stuck with little more than disappointment or perhaps, in hindsight, relief. Their initial deposits have …