Pine Labs

Indian merchant platform company

Pine Labs Pvt. Ltd.
IndustryFintech
Founded1998; 26 years ago (1998)
FounderLokvir Kapoor
Rajul Garg
Headquarters
Noida, Uttar Pradesh
,
India
Area served
India, Middle East, Southeast Asia
Key people
Lokvir Kapoor (Executive chairman)
B.Amrish Rau (CEO)
ProductsmyPlutus app, Plutus Smart, Pine Labs Genie,[1] Plural
RevenueIncrease ₹1,588 crore (US$200 million) (FY23)[2]
Net income
Increase ₹−227 crore (US$−28 million) (FY23)[2]
SubsidiariesQwikcilver Solutions Pvt Ltd.
Websitepinelabs.com

Pine Labs is an Indian company that provides point of sales systems and payment systems, founded in 1998. The company has a valuation of over US$5 billion.[3]

The company makes Android-based point of sale (PoS) machines.[4] and has more than 70,000 retailers across India, including well-known retail outlets such as Spencer's Retail, Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop, and Westside.[5] It also has a presence in other countries, primarily in Asia, such as India and Malaysia.[6]

Some of its notable investors include LonePine, PayPal, Temasek, Actis Capital, Altimeter Capital, Sofina, and Sequoia Capital.

History

The company was founded in 1998.[7] The company evolved from petroleum retail automation to becoming a payments products and services firm for merchants. It has over 100,000 merchants in India and other Asian countries. Pine Labs has sold over 850,000 PoS terminals in India.[8]

In 2004, Pine Labs ventured into mainstream payments and financial offerings for merchants.[9]

The company acquired gifting startup Qwikcilver for $110 million in March 2019.[10][11][12]

In February 2019, the company partnered with RAKBANK to launch a payment platform in the UAE. In March 2018, Google Pay entered into partnership with Pine Labs to capture the offline payments space in India.[13][14] The company partnered with UnionPay in January 2019.[15]

In April 2021, Pine Labs acquired Southeast Asian deals and cash-back platform Fave for $45 million.[16] Fave's co-founders Joel Neoh, Yeoh Chen Chow, and Arzumy MD, will continue working in the company to expand its presence across Southeast Asia and India.[17]

In August, 2021 the company suffered a data breach exposing the data of up to 500,000 of its users to hackers, which raised several concerns on its capabilities to protect sensitive customer information.[18]

In January 2022, Pine Labs filed confidentially for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to raise about $500 million later that year at a valuation of $5.5 – 7 billion.[19]

Funding

In May 2018, Pine Labs raised $125 million (₹843 crores) from Temasek Holdings and PayPal, making it one of the unicorn startup companies with a valuation of over $1 billion.[20][21]

In March 2018, the company raised $82 million (₹530 crores) from Actis Capital, a private equity fund and Altimeter Capital, a California-based investment company.[22] It had also raised funds in 2015 from Sofina and in 2009 from Sequoia Capital.[23][24] As of May 2018, It has raised a total of $208 million.[20]

In May 2019, it was listed among the top 10 highest-funded startups in India by CNBC TV18.[6] In Jan 2020, it announced it had raised an undisclosed sum from Mastercard .[25] In December 2020, it raised US$75-$100 million led by US based billionaire Stephen Mandel's hedge fund Lone Pine Capital. After this funding Pine Labs valuation increased to more than US$2 billion. In July 2021, it raised $325 million at a valuation of $3.5 billion from Fidelity and Blackrock.[26]

Products and services

The company provides mobile devices that allow merchants to accept credit and debit card payments.[27][28][29][30]

See also

References

  1. ^ Pine Labs Genie
  2. ^ a b "Pine Labs logs revenue of Rs 1,600 crore, trims losses in FY23". Financial Express. 30 December 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  3. ^ Upadhaya, Harsh (18 February 2022). "Pine Labs raises $150 Mn from Alpha Wave at $5 Bn valuation". entrackr.com.
  4. ^ https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/pine-labs-plans-to-deploy-1-5-lakh-android-pos-devices-by-next-fiscal-11582462971021.html
  5. ^ Gooptu, Biswarup; Bhakta, Pratik (28 August 2017). "Season may be right for Sequoia to exit Pine Labs". The Economic Times.
  6. ^ a b "Here are the top 10 highest-funded startups in India". CNBC TV18. 29 May 2019.
  7. ^ "Indian fintech firm Pine Labs confidentially files for U.S. IPO". The Hindu. 10 January 2022. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  8. ^ Abrar, Peerzada; Mishra, Bibhu Ranjan (12 June 2019). "Pine Labs gears up for next phase of growth, plans to foray into new mkts". Business Standard.
  9. ^ Tyagi, Gaurav (30 July 2019). "Pine Labs secures Rs 707 Cr from Singapore-based parent company". Entrackr. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  10. ^ Bhakta, Pratik (20 March 2019). "Pine Labs acquires gifting startup Qwikcilver". The Economic Times.
  11. ^ "Why Pine Labs is acquiring Qwikcilver". The Economic Times. 26 February 2019.
  12. ^ Arakali, Harichandan (19 March 2019). "Singapore's Pine Labs acquires gift card tech company Qwikcilver in $110 million deal". Forbes India.
  13. ^ Soni, Yatti (28 March 2018). "Google Pay Partners With Pine Labs To Capture Offline Payments Space In India". Inc42.com.
  14. ^ "Google Pay looks beyond UPI, card payments in the works". The Economic Times. 10 May 2019.
  15. ^ "UnionPay acceptance coverage in India continues to increase". Unionpayintl. 10 January 2019.
  16. ^ "Pine Labs has just bought Fave for $45 million". Entrepreneurship News, Community, and Resources | BEAMSTART. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  17. ^ "Pine Labs acquires Southeast Asian startup Fave for $45 million". TechCrunch. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  18. ^ Ghosh, Debangana (17 August 2021). "Data breach at Pine Labs exposes 500,000 records". thehindubusinessline.com.
  19. ^ "Fintech startup Pine Labs to seek $500 million in US IPO". The Economic Times. 10 January 2022.
  20. ^ a b Russel, John (31 May 2018). "PayPal and Singapore's Temasek invest $125M in Indian payment startup Pine Labs". TechCrunch.
  21. ^ "India's Pine Labs Racks Up $125 Million". The Wall Street Journal. 31 May 2018.
  22. ^ Bhakta, Pratik (13 March 2018). "Actis, Altimeter put $82 million in Pine Labs to grow roots". The Economic Times.
  23. ^ Alexander, George Smith (13 March 2015). "Sequoia's Pine Labs Said to Seek Funding at $1 Billion Valuation". Bloomberg News.
  24. ^ "Striking gold: A look at India's growing club of Unicorns". The Economic Times. 29 June 2018.
  25. ^ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  26. ^ Manikandan, Ashwin. "Pine Labs gets funding at $3.5-billion valuation ahead of US IPO". The Economic Times. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  27. ^ "Pine Labs brings digital payment innovations to the MENA Region". Dubai: Saudi Gazette. 18 March 2018.
  28. ^ "Pine Labs revenues grow 55% to ₹302 crore, while slipping into loss, in FY18". Theindianwire.com. 31 October 2018.
  29. ^ Shaikh, Shadma (19 November 2015). "Use reward points, don't lose them". Asian Age.
  30. ^ Gupta, Soumya (7 February 2017). "'Soon To Be Unicorns' : India's Top 40+". BusinessWorld.

List of Top 10 Fintech Companies In India 2022-23 by CEO Review Magazine