India payments player Pine Labs invests Malaysia’s Fave
Pine Labs, an Indian payments start-up backed by MasterCard, PayPal, and Sequoia Capital India, has invested Fave, a Malaysian e-commerce platform also supported by Sequoia.
Financial details were not disclosed. It follows an investment by MasterCard in Pine Labs earlier this year. The plan was to target a local market for point-of-sale (POS) installment financing estimated to expand from $16.9 billion in 2021 to $52.5 billion in 2025.
The latest transaction will result in Fave’s QR code system becoming interoperable and integrated with Pine Labs' POS terminals in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Fave’s merchant payment acceptance and loyalty cashback services will expand into debit and credit cards platforms via Pine Labs payment terminals.
It is hoped that nearly 50,000 small to medium-sized merchants in Fave and Pine Labs’ networks in Southeast Asia will immediately benefit from the partnership. The effect is expected to be amplified by growing needs around digitization during the region’s COVID-19 recovery. Fave believes the most promising areas in this process include automotive sales and food and beverage, which are said to have seen significant pent-up demand from consumers.
“The partnership brings together great understanding and expertise in technology development to help support merchants through successful business transformations,” Joel Neoh, co-founder and CEO of Fave, said in a statement. “With digitalization playing an increasingly critical role in the recovery of Southeast Asia’s economy, merchants recognize that they need to accelerate the development of digital solutions to ensure they remain competitive.”
Sequoia India joined a $20 million Series B round for Fave in 2018 alongside SIG Asia Investments and Venturra Capital. Previous investors include 500 Startups, InnoVen Capital, India Asia Venture Group, Global Founders Capital, Intres Capital, Segnel Ventures, and SXE Ventures. The company has made a string of online-to-offline bolt-ons in recent years, including Groupon Indonesia, Groupon Malaysia, and Groupon Singapore.
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