Temasek, PayPal pick up minority stakes in Pine Labs for $125 mn

Digital retail payments platform Pine Labs today said Temasek and PayPal Holdings Inc have acquired minority stakes in the company for a combined USD 125 million (about Rs 843 crore).

In March, Pine Labs had said it has raised USD 82 million from private equity fund Actis and California-based investment company Altimeter Capital.

"We are teaming up with Temasek and PayPal at a time when the Indian payments market is at an inflection point. We are a leader in the offline payments space, a position that is critical in enabling the ecosystem of online payment products," Pine Labs founder Lokvir Kapoor said in a statement.

Pine Labs said Singapore-based Temasek, with its deep network in many Asian markets and extensive knowledge of financial services companies, is a great partner for the company as it ramps up its regional expansion.

Also, PayPal's global presence and strong product expertise make it an invaluable ally, the statement said.

While the company did not specify details of the "minority stakes" bought by Temasek and US-based PayPal, it said Sequoia India - which first invested in Pine Labs in 2009 - remains its largest shareholder.

"We are furthest ahead in this journey in India with an annualised GTV (gross transaction value) of USD 15 billion on a base of approximately 3,00,000 payments acceptance points.

"Pine is also on track to originate over USD 1 billion of instant loans at point-of-sale terminals for card issuers and partner NBFCs in 2018-19," Pine Labs CEO Vicky Bindra said.