IPO-bound Fintech Unicorn: Pine Labs announces INR 100 Cr ESOP Buyback
- ByStartupStory | March 31, 2022
Pine Labs’, an IPO-bound fintech startup, CEO and cofounder Amrish Rau took to social media platforms Twitter and LinkedIn in order to officially announce its recent INR 100 Cr employee stock ownership programme (ESOP) buyback.
Coupled with its announcement of a $50 Mn pre-IPO fund raise, this comes just a day after reports emerged about the startup’s possible ESOP buyback.
On further query about the buyback plan till the time of publishing this report, Pine Labs was not immediately available to comment.
Pine Labs confirmed its $50 Mn funding round led by PE firm Vitruvian Partners at a valuation of over $5 Bn, earlier today. A $15 Mn ESOP buyback was also included in the funding round.
Commenting on the $50 Mn fundraise, Rau said that their aim is to further strengthen their recent foray in online payments via Plural and take their Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) offering to new markets through strategic collaborations.
However, any details of the ESOP buyback programme haven’t been divulged by the fintech unicorn. Pine Labs had allotted $14 Mn worth ESOPs to its CTO, CFO and many others, in 2020. It is expanding its BNPL offering in Southeast Asia, Pine Labs in its statement.
The startup launched ‘Mastercard Installments with Pine Labs’ program with Mastercard and DBS Bank, with Pay Later installment purchase options at the point of sale, allowing the bank’s two million customers in Singapore, Indonesia, and Hong Kong SAR, earlier this month.
This year, back-to-back funds have been raised by Pine Labs. The startup raised a $150 Mn fundraise from Alpha Wave Ventures at a little over $6 Bn valuation in February this year, after raising $20 Mn in a fresh round of investment from India’s largest commercial bank SBI in January.
Actively last year, the startup has also raised funds and its investors list include the likes of Sequoia India, PayPal, Singapore’s Temasek, Actis Capital.
Pine Labs was founded in 1998 by Lokvir Kapoor, After closing a deal with NYSE-listed multinational financial services corporation MasterCard, Pine Labs entered the unicorn club in 2020.
Merchant commerce solutions including enterprise automation systems such as customer relationship and inventory management have also been offered by the Noida-based startup. And thus, in order to accept digital payments, it enables large and mid-sized businesses in Asia and the Middle East.
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