Pine Labs Pvt Ltd, a payment solutions provider aiming for a US listing, announced on Tuesday that it has raised an additional $20 million (approximately Rs 150 crore) in new investment from the State Bank of India (SBI).
Pine Labs stated that the new funds will be used to scale Plural, its newly launched brand of online payment products, with the goal of becoming merchants’ preferred omnichannel partner.
We are thrilled to have the largest bank of India, the State Bank of India, place their trust in us and welcome them in this journey where we are empowering merchants with seamless and secure payment experiences across offline and online platforms. In the last year, several marquee investors have placed their trust in our business model and growth momentum and that is a gratifying feeling. This association with SBI is a personally satisfying experience as I had started my career selling financial services technology to SBI,” B. Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs said.
Pine Labs raised $600 million in total from US-based asset management firm Fidelity, Blackrock, and others in 2021, followed by a $100 million fundraise from US-based Invesco Developing Markets Fund.
Pine Labs recently announced the expansion of its buy now, pay later (BNPL) service into India and Southeast Asia. Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, Actis, PayPal, and Mastercard are among its other investors.
Rajul Garg founded Pine Labs in 1998 but left in 2003. The payments company was then taken over by Lokvir Kapoor, the company’s current chairman. Prior to adopting its current business strategy, it focused on large-scale smart card-based payments and loyalty solutions for Indian metro enterprises.
In May 2021, the company received a $285 million tranche from a group of reputable public market-focused cross-over funds, bringing its valuation to around $3 billion at the time. Pine Labs appointed CRED founder Kunal Shah to its board of directors in August 2021.
In the past, the company has also made acquisitions. In April 2021, it paid $45 million (337 crore) for Southeast Asia-based fintech platform Fave. Pine Labs made a strategic investment in Fave in July 2020. QwikCilver was previously acquired by Pine Labs in 2019.
