Pine Labs, an Indian merchant commerce platform that offers payment terminals, invoicing tools, and working capitals, has raised $ 285 million in a new round of funding. The new funds are from investors including Baron Capital Group, Duro Capital, Marshall Wace, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Ward Ferry Management.
Existing investors Temasek, Lone Pine Capital, and Sunley House Capital also participated in this funding round, a statement said.
According to the company, this was an oversubscribed round. In addition to primary proceeds, the company also enabled secondary transactions for its founder, employees, and early shareholders in this round. “We raised $ 285 million. We want to thank Puri Kaaynath for supporting and backing us. Our teams, families, customers, and investors,” Pine Labs CEO B Amrish Rau said in a LinkedIn post.
This translates to about ₹ 2089 crore. In December last year, Pine Labs had announced raising funding from Lone Pine Capital, valuing it at over $ 2 billion (about ₹14,700 crore). In January 2020, Mastercard had invested in the company, placing the fintech firm in the unicorn club (companies with a valuation of $ 1 billion).
Serving businesses in the Asian subcontinent
Incorporated in Singapore, Pine Labs’ key investors include Sequoia India, Actis Capital, Temasek, PayPal, and Mastercard.
Pine Labs claims to be serving more than 150,000 merchants across Asia and the Middle East. The company recently also launched its BNPL service in Malaysia and has ambitious plans to take its integrated Pay Later instalment solution to newer markets in Southeast Asia. In April 2021, Pine Labs also announced the acquisition of Fave, Southeast Asia’s fast-growing consumer fintech platform.
“In this significantly oversubscribed round, in addition to primary proceeds, Pine Labs enabled secondary transactions for its founder, employees, and early shareholders as it is already a well-financed company with a strong balance sheet and has been EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) profitable for several years,” a statement said.
Pine Labs has transformed from a single product company offering retail acceptance of payments to a broader payment’s platform. The company now serves hundreds of thousands of merchants for payments through cards and UPI. In addition, their market leading PayLater product sees $ 3 billion in annualised EMI transactions.
Founded in 1998 as a smart-card payment and loyalty solutions company, Pine Labs was last valued at over $ 2 Billion in December 2020, when it raised a fresh round of funding from Lone Pine Capital. According to sources, with this new round, the company’s valuation has soared to $ 3 billion and the founders have already hinted at going public by filing an IPO, but the timing is still not known.
