Bourse-bound Pine Labs raises $100 mn in fresh capital from US-based Invesco

By Joseph Rai

  • 16 Sep 2021
Credit: Pixabay

Payment solutions provider Pine Labs Pvt Ltd, headed for a US listing over the next 17 months, on Thursday said it has raised $100 million (Rs 734 crore) in a new investment round from US-based investment management company Invesco.

The investment was made through Invesco Developing Markets Fund, said Pine Labs in a statement.

Justin Leverenz, investment chief of developing markets equities at Invesco, said that the investment in Pine Labs fits into its strategy of seeking high quality companies that have durable long-term growth potential.

Pine Labs' latest funding comes just months after it closed its $600 million funding round earlier in July. https://www.vccircle.com/blackrock-others-invest-600-mn-in-market-bound-pine-labs It had raised the funds from US-based asset management firm Fidelity Management and Research Company, BlackRock, Ishana, Tree Line, and a fund advised by Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC. IIFL AMC, via its Late-Stage Tech Fund, and Kotak Funds also took part in the round.

B Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs, said in the latest statement that the company has scaled its prepaid issuing stack, online payments, and also the buy now pay later (BNPL) offering in the last 18 months.

"We continue to make progress in the larger Asian markets with our BNPL platform," he added.

Pine Labs was founded in 1998 by Rajul Garg, who quit the company in 2003. The payments company was then taken over by Lokvir Kapoor, currently the firm's chairman.  

Initially, it focused on large-scale smart card-based payments and loyalty solutions for Indian metro companies before shifting to its current business model.

Its other investors include Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, Actis, PayPal and Mastercard..

Last month, Pine Labs roped in CRED founder Kunal Shah on its board.

The company has also made acquisitions in the past. It acquired Southeast Asia-based fintech platform Fave for $45 million (Rs 337 crore) in April 2021. In July 2020, Pine Labs made a strategic investment in Fave.

Pine Labs previously acquired QwikCilver in 2019 for which it raised capital from Actis Advisors.