Pine Labs, founded in 1998, is an Indian merchant platform firm that specializes in finance and last-mile retail transaction technologies. With a market capitalization of above US$3.5 billion, it is designated a unicorn company. It creates software for point-of-sale (PoS) equipment and provides a merchant platform.
The firm operates over 70,000 stores in India, including prominent retailers like Marks & Spencer Retail, Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop, and Westside. It has operations in India, Malaysia, and other Asian countries. LonePine, PayPal, Temasek, Actis Capital, Altimeter Capital, Sofina, and Sequoia Capital are among its investors.
From a petroleum automation retail solution provider to a payment products and services provider for merchants, the company has grown by leaps and bounds.
In India and other Asian nations, it has over 100,000 traders. In India, the Pine Labs technology powers approximately 350,000 PoS terminals. Pine Labs entered the mainstream payments and banking services for retailers in 2004. In March 2019, the business paid $110 million, acquiring the gifting startup Qwikcilver. The startup teamed with RAKBANK to create a payment platform in the UAE in February 2019. Google Pay partnered with Pine Labs in March 2018 to take on the offline payments market in India.
In January of this year, the firm joined with UnionPay. Pine Labs paid $45 million in April 2021 for Southeast Asian deals and cash-back platform Fave. Joel Neoh, Yeoh Chen Chow, and Arzumy MD, Fave’s co-founders, will stay on to help the firm develop across Southeast Asia and India.
Plural Gateway
Plural was established by Pine Labs to focus on online retailers and direct-to-consumer companies. With the launch of Plural, a collection of payment solutions, digital payments service provider Pine Labs, which has previously concentrated mostly on offline retailers, is now strengthening its emphasis on online merchants and new-age direct-to-consumer (D2C) businesses. Plural Gateway is a flexible payment gateway that enables businesses to take payments using a variety of payment methods, including credit and debit cards, as well as digital payment infrastructure, such as a universal payments interface (UPI). It can also handle Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) transactions, which have become more popular among customers this holiday season.
Pine Labs already had an online payment solution for offline shops, but it has gone one step further by developing a solution for new-age tech and D2C businesses. It will also assist heritage companies such as Reliance and Samsung with online checkouts. Pine Labs has entered the sector dominated by online payment gateways such as PayU, Razorpay, and Paytm Gateway with the introduction of Plural. Tanya Naik, who formerly worked at PayPal India as the director of payments, is now in charge of Pine Labs’ Plural division.
Plural Checkout, a mobile software development kit (SDK) to improve payment gateway performance, and Plural Console, a payment orchestration platform with a tech foundation to initiate transactions over different payment gateways, are also part of the Plural product line.
“The differentiation that we look to bring with Plural is that it is an open platform and can integrate with any solution which a merchant was already using. With Plural, we can also now offer a suite of products under one brand across all channels (offline and online) through our multiple offerings which will bring an integrated omnichannel payment experience for brands,”
said Naik.
Public offering soon
Besides these new acquisitions and services, Pine Labs’ Chief Executive Officer, Amrish Rau, said the firm is exploring an initial public offering in as soon as a year. As the company entered the multibillion-dollar online payment industry. Kunal Shah is the newest and most valued member of Pine Labs’ board of directors. Adding another star to the company’s list of accomplishments. Kunal is a pioneer of India’s fintech ecosystem as an entrepreneur, investor, and pioneer of the Indian fintech ecosystem. CRED is a high-trust network of some of India’s most creditworthy individuals, financial institutions, and companies, which he launched in 2018.
Amrish Rau – CEO of Pine Labs
The CEO of Pine Labs is Amrish Rau. He is in charge of the company’s expansion and growth throughout Asia and beyond. He has extensive expertise in the financial technology (FinTech) business, having led big FinTech companies for over two decades.
It was even more challenging for Rau, 48, who took over the reins at the 3,000-employee Pine Labs only two weeks before the pandemic-induced shutdown last year. There was also the matter of navigating and surviving the epidemic. In addition to getting to know the team without seeing them in person. As the epidemic spread, commerce fell by 20% in the first two phases of the lockdown, which lasted until April. Before rising up again in July, when the country began to open up. Rau, who has extensive financial expertise and operated his own firm for three years, approached the Pine Labs challenge with the zeal of a founder.
Prior to joining Pine Labs, Rau worked for Naspers as the Head of Financial Technology Investments and Partnerships. Where he was in charge of expanding the company’s FinTech reach. Rau began his FinTech career in 2005 with First Data Corporation. He helped develop a market-leading payments joint venture with ICICI Bank as Managing Director of First Data Asia. He was in charge of all operations in the South Asian and southeast Asian markets as CEO of First Data Merchant Solutions Asia. Before joining First Data, Rau worked for NCR Corporation for eight years, first in business development. And then as Managing Director of the company’s data warehousing and customer relationship management subsidiary, Teradata.
Citrus Payment Solutions (or Citrus Pay, as it was known among customers) was bought by South Africa-based Naspers Ltd’s fintech business PayU in September 2016. And the company has helped him fill the hole. Naspers gave him the post of PayU CEO in exchange for the $130 million all-cash acquisition. But which was one of the largest in the fintech market.
Future Plans
Pine Labs is helping to shape the future of the Asian merchant business. They’re employing cutting-edge fintech solutions. Those were created using their technological skills and fuelled by their desire to innovate and solve issues. They think that with the right mix of technology and cash, every company can develop tremendously. Furthermore, they are focused on building a product and service platform that expands access. And speeds up businesses in each area where they operate.
