Pine Labs, an IPO-bound merchant commerce platform, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired a controlling stake in Mosambee, a payment solutions startup, for an undisclosed sum. According to the release, Pine Labs’ investment will value Mosambee at more than $100 million.
On April 5th, VCCircle was the first to report the news.
Synergistic Financial Networks Pvt. Ltd, which runs Mosambee, had previously recruited DC Advisory, a mid-market-focused boutique investment bank, to hunt for possible investors. Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund (RVCF) and SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd are among the company’s current investors.
Mosambee’s leadership team will continue to operate independently following this sale.
Mosambee bought Benow, a payment startup focused on buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), in February to expand its presence across the country. In four years, the company said its income had increased from 2 crore to about 140 crore. Despite the epidemic, the payments company said it grew by 25% in fiscal year 2021 and expects to expand by 50% in fiscal year 2022.
Mosambee also intends to increase its efforts in developing MSME-focused solutions in order to promote digital inclusion.
Pine Labs, founded in 1998, is an Indian merchant platform firm that specializes in financing and last-mile retail transaction technologies. With a market capitalization of more than $5 billion, it is considered a unicorn company.
It creates software for point-of-sale (PoS) equipment and provides a merchant platform.
The company operates over 70,000 stores in India, including prominent retailers like Marks and Spencer Retail, Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop, and Westside. It has operations in India, Malaysia, and other Asian countries.
Pine Labs filed a confidential initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2022, seeking to raise $500 million later that year, valuing the company at $5.5–7 billion.
LonePine, PayPal, Temasek, Actis Capital, Altimeter Capital, Sofina, and Sequoia Capital are among its investors.
Pine Labs raised $125 million (Rs. 843 crores) from Temasek Holdings and PayPal in May 2018, making it one of the unicorn startups with a $1 billion value.
Actis Capital, a private equity fund, and Altimeter Capital, a California-based investment firm, helped the company finance $82 million (530 crores) in March 2018.
It also received funding from Sofina in 2015 and Sequoia Capital in 2009.
It has raised a total of $208 million as of May 2018.
CNBC TV18 named it one of India’s top ten most well-funded startups in May 2019. It stated in January 2020 that it has raised an undisclosed sum from Mastercard. It raised $75-$100 million in December 2020, lead by US-based billionaire Stephen Mandel’s hedge fund Lone Pine Capital. Pine Labs’ valuation climbed to more than US$2 billion as a result of this funding. It raised $325 million from Fidelity and Blackrock in July 2021, valued at $3.5 billion.
