India's PE-backed Pine Labs acquires Malaysia's Fave

Fave's investors will receive an all-cash payout, while its founders and some senior employees will get both cash and Pine Labs shares. It comes less than a year after Pine Labs made a strategic investment in the company as part of an operational partnership and expansion.

Sequoia invested in Fave as part of a $20 million Series B round in 2018 that also featured 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.

Sequoia first backed Pine Labs in 2009, according to AVCJ Research. PayPal and Temasek Holdings provided $125 million in 2018, with MasterCard investing an undisclosed sum two years later. US-based Lone Pine Capital invested $100 million as recently as December. Actis, Altimeter Capital, and Madison India Capital are also backers.

The acquisition will see Fave's app roll out later this year in India, where it will be connected with Pine Labs' existing 500,000-strong merchant network across 3,700 cities nationwide. Previously the two companies had collaborated in Southeast Asia, where Fave's QR code system is interoperable with Pine Labs' point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

Fave will hire 100 new employees across India and Southeast Asia as the integration progresses. It will also leverage recent traction in the form of a partnership with Singtel and DBS Bank that has facilitated Fave-enabled transactions at certain stores in Singapore. Fave claims to have served six million consumers and 40,000 retailers in Southeast Asia since 2016.

"Consumers have tremendous choices in their payment types. They want to be sure that they save on every transaction. Fave helps consumers apply their best rewards, coupons, gift cards and cashbacks on all transactions in a seamless manner," B. Amrish Rau, Pine Labs' CEO, said in a statement. "[Fave CEO Joel Neoh] and the Fave team have built a loyal consumer base with their smooth checkout experience."

Founded in 1998, Pine Labs offers a cloud-based payments platform that allows merchants in India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East otherwise dependent on traditional POS terminals to accept payments via methods including online wallets, QR codes, and electronic gift cards, as well as credit and debit cards.

Previous acquisitions include Qwikcilver, a gift card technology provider that is an investee and partner of Amazon.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Southeast Asia
• Buyouts
• Financials
• India
• Singapore
• Sequoia Capital
• Financial Services