State Bank of India Backs Pine Labs with $20M

The State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest commercial bank, invested $20 million in the merchant commerce platform Pine Labs ahead of an expected U.S. public listing sometime in the middle of this year, according to a Tuesday (Jan. 4) press release.

The new capital follows a $600 million funding round last year from a variety of investors, and a $100 million investment in September 2021 from Invesco Developing Markets Fund. Pine Labs has an estimated valuation of $3.5 billion and us is reportedly mulling an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq.

See also: Indian Merchant Commerce Platform Pine Labs Eyes $1B IPO

Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs, said that it’s “personally satisfying” to have the country’s biggest bank “place their trust in us” as the company strives to provide merchants with “seamless and secure payment experiences.” Rau said he started his career selling financial services technology to SBI.

He added that in the past year, “several marquee investors” have backed the company’s “business model and growth momentum.”

The fresh infusion of capital will be used to enhance its product suite at the offline point-of-sale, scale Plural, its new brand of digital payment tools, and ultimately “emerge as an omnichannel partner of choice for merchants,” according to the release.

Read more: India’s Pine Labs Notches $600M At $3.5B Valuation

The company is also planning to grow its buy now pay later (BNPL) footprint across India and Southeast Asia following its April $45 million acquisition of Malaysian eCommerce FinTech startup Fave and 2019 $110 million acquisition of QwikCilver.

Pine Labs serves merchants of all sizes across India and Southeast Asia, with its cloud-based software platform enabling numerous payment acceptance and merchant commerce solutions. The platform also handles inventory management and customer relationship management. The company’s stored value platform offers digital gift cards for corporate customers.

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