Mastercard invests in Pine Labs

Pine Labs, a merchant commerce platform, on Friday said it has received an undisclosed amount of investment from Mastercard.

Pine Labs' key investors include Sequoia India, Actis Capital, Temasek, PayPal and Sofina.

"The investment is part of a partnership to continue the rapid growth of convenient electronic payment options for consumers across the region. The collaboration will deliver an extensive range of card and real-time payments-based instalment financing at checkout in-store and online," a statement said.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The companies will collaborate to offer a suite of value-added services, including Pine Labs' end-to-end stored value solutions that will replace the paper ones now widely used by companies, retailers and people in South Asia and other markets.

Pine Labs processes payments of USD 30 billion per year and serves about 1.4 lakh merchants across about 450,000 network points.

"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," Pine Labs founder and chairman Lokvir Kapoor said.

A study published in May 2019 by PwC and the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India showed that the market opportunity in India for instalment-based payments on consumer goods will hit USD 16.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to jump to USD 52.5 billion in 2025.

"Smart devices are transforming how people shop. With this partnership, we're continuing to build innovative solutions and provide people with new ways to pay right at their fingertips," Mastercard co-president for Asia Pacific Ari Sarker said.