Invesco commits $100m to India's Pine Labs

Invesco is investing via its NASDAQ-listed Developing Markets Fund, which is headed by Justin Leverenz, formerly director of pan-Asian technology research for Goldman Sachs.

According to a statement, the deal comes on the back of an 18-month expansion period for the prepaid cards, online payments, and deferred payments business lines. The core offering is a cloud-based platform that allows merchants dependent on traditional point-of-sale terminals to accept payments via online wallets, QR codes, and electronic gift cards, as well as credit and debit cards.

Pine Labs has attributed its growth in recent years in large part to a string of strategic investments. These include the acquisition of Indian gift card technology provider Qwikcilver for $110 million in 2019 and the purchase of Malaysian fintech platform Fave for $45 million in 2020. The pandemic has also bolstered business, with merchant adoption increasing nearly 100% during 2020.

The company claims to have been EBITDA positive for several years, with deferred payments products seen as especially fast-growing in large Asian markets. The PayLater offering is said to be on track to facilitate $3 billion in annual transactions. Revenue came to about $108.5 million in financial 2021, according to The Economic Times.

Total funding since Pine Labs’ inception in 1998 comes to more than $1.3 billion. The $600 million round in April – sometimes referred to as a Series D – valued the company at about $3.5 billion. At the time, CEO Amrish Rau confirmed that his company would seek a US IPO in the next 18 months.

That round featured BlackRock Private Equity Partners, Neuberger Berman, IIFL Asset Management, Tree Line Capital Partners, Baron Capital, Duro Capital, Lone Pine Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Sunley House Capital Management, Fidelity Management & Research, Temasek Holdings, Ward Ferry Management, and Marshall Wace.

Previous investors also include Actis Capital, Altimeter Capital, Madison India Capital, and PayPal, as well as Sequoia Capital India, which had separately backed Fave.

Mastercard made an investment of undisclosed size early last year with a view to building out the deferred payments business. The plan was based on expectations that the Indian installments-based payments market would grow from $16.9 billion in 2021 to $52.5 billion in 2025.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• South Asia
• Financials
• Technology
• Consumer
• Expansion
• India
• Financial Services
• Fintech