Mastercard backs digital retail payments firm Pine Labs

Merchant commerce platform Pine Labs has raised an undisclosed sum from global payments solution company Mastercard.

“The investment is part of a partnership to continue the rapid growth of convenient electronic payment options for consumers across the region,” Pine Labs and Mastercard said in a joint statement.

The financial details of the deals were not disclosed.

The collaboration will deliver a range of card and real-time payments-based instalment financing at checkout – both in-store and online. The companies will offer a suite of value-added services, including Pine Labs’ end-to-end stored value solutions.

Pine Labs was founded in 1998 by Rajul Garg, who quit the company in 2003. The payments company was then taken over by incumbent CEO Lokvir Kapoor. Initially, it focused on large-scale smart card-based payment and loyalty solutions for Indian petroleum companies.

The distinct shift in business model began around the time when homegrown payments major Paytm launched its operations. Since then, the company has evolved from being an offline retail payment provider to offering payment acceptance technology, stored value products, in-store consumer credit and other merchant solutions in India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

“Together, we have a unique opportunity to use Mastercard’s global presence and technology infrastructure to enhance our growth and enable us to meet the growing needs of customers in India and beyond,” Kapoor said.

The company had appointed Bindra, who was Visa Inc.’s global head of products and solutions, as the new CEO in April 2018.

Today, it claims to process payments worth $30 billion per year and serves 140,000 merchants across about 450,000 network points.

In its last funding round, the company raised $125 million from Singapore state investment firm Temasek and American payments giant PayPal Holdings. Two months prior to this round, private equity firm Actis Capital led an $82-million  round into the company. The company was valued at $900 million during this round.

In March 2019, Pine Labs acquired Bengaluru-based gift card solutions provider QwikCilver for $110 million.

Pine Labs also counts Sequoia India and Belgium-based investment company Sofina among its investors.

 “By joining forces with Pine Labs, we are reinforcing our strategy to deliver choice to consumers and to be the partner of choice for our customers in South Asia and around the world,” Ari Sarker, co-president for Asia Pacific at Mastercard, said.

Last year, Mastercard invested an undisclosed amount in Hyderabad-based digital identity solutions startup Syntizen Technologies.