On Wednesday, Pine Labs, which is planning an IPO, announced that it has acquired a controlling stake in payment solutions provider Mosambee for an undisclosed sum. Mosambee will be valued at more than $100 million, thanks to Pine Labs’ fresh investment. Mosambee, which Synergistic Financial Networks Pvt owns. Ltd had initially hired DC Advisory, a mid-market-focused boutique investment bank, to find possible investors. Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund (RVCF) and SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd are among the company’s current investors.
“Ever since its launch, Mosambee has made tremendous inroads into elevating the merchant experience through cutting-edge fintech solutions. They were a natural fit for us due to our shared purpose of making innovative fintech products accessible to all and driving forward the digital payment revolution in India,” stated Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs.
Mosambee bought Benow, a payment startup focused on buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), in February to expand its presence across the country. The company said its revenue had increased from Rs 2 crore to over Rs 140 crore in four years. Despite the epidemic, the payments company said it grew by 25% in 2021 and expects to increase by 50% in the fiscal year 2022.
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Mosambee also plans to boost its efforts in developing MSME-focused products in order to promote digital inclusion. Mosambee raised an unknown amount from current backers Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund (RVCF) and SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd in its Series B round of fundraising in 2015.
“Pine Labs was our first partner when we launched our platform. Mosambee today caters to a wide array of businesses, from SMEs to private and government entities to leading banking institutions in India. With the extensive reach of Pine Labs and their portfolio companies, we aim to continue to deliver strong profitability and breakthrough solutions to our clients,” said Sameer Chugh, Co-Founder of Mosambee.
Pine Labs has a history of M&A (mergers and acquisitions), and it has made a few recent purchases. In February, it paid an undisclosed sum for payments startup Qfix Infocomm. According to the report, Pine Labs is in advanced talks to acquire API infrastructure company Setu.
Pine Labs previously bought QwikCilver in 2019, for which Actis Advisors provided funding. In April 2021, the business paid $45 million (Rs 337 crore) for Southeast Asia-based financial platform Fave. Pine Labs made a strategic investment in Fave in July 2020. Vitruvian Partners provided $50 million (about Rs 380 crore) in new capital to the fintech unicorn (startups valued at above $1 billion).
For the aforementioned transaction, the startup is said to have been valued at $5-$5.5 billion. Pine Labs raised $150 million (about Rs 1,120 crore) from Alpha Wave Ventures last month. The company obtained a $285 million tranche from a group of reputable public market-focused cross-over funds in May 2021, bringing its worth to roughly $3 billion. Pine Labs added CRED creator Kunal Shah to its board of directors in August 2021.
Pine Labs was founded by Rajul Garg in 1998, although he eventually left the company. After that, the company was taken over by Lokvir Kapoor, the current Chairman. Pine Labs’ solutions are employed by merchants in various industries, including electronics, food and beverage, fashion, medicine, communications, and airlines; however, they are largely offline businesses.
The corporation is also planning to expand its online platform organically and inorganically.
