Pine Labs strengthens offline presence, acquires Fave for USD 45Mn

Indian merchant commerce startup, Pine Labs has reportedly acquired Malaysia-based fintech company Fave in an all-cash deal worth USD 45 million. This move will help the company scale its platform in the consumer vertical in India and Southeast Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The acquisition has also benefitted Fave, with Chief Executive of Pine Labs, Amrish Rau, reportedly stating that the Kuala Lumpur payments company will now be able to launch its app in India, which will permit Indian customers to transact at nearly 5,00,000 physical retail outlets and merchants powered by Noida-based fintech unicorn.

Rau also said that Fave is in the advanced stages of receiving a UPI certification from the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) to launch its payment service in India over the next few months.

Co-founder and CEO of Fave, Joel Neoh, will lead the business, with the company getting an Indian branch wherein Pine Labs is looking to hire 100 new talents, cited sources close to the matter.

Neoh expressed that India’s brimming youth population is the nation’s digital advantage as disposable income and digital savviness among the growing aspirational middle class population continues to increase. Fave is confident that the e-payments landscape in Asia Pacific will continue to reach new heights in the coming decade, he added.

It is to be noted that Fave’s platform specialty lies in providing customers with discounts and loyalty benefits on physical transactions through discount coupons, cashbacks, gift cards, and other instruments. The company, founded in 2016, claims to have ties with over 40,000 retailers in Southeast Asia and gross payment volume of USD 400 million, cited credible sources.

Previously, Pine Labs made its first strategic investment in Fave back in June 2020 with a goal of grabbing a share of the rapidly digitizing South Asian offline commerce market.

The company’s growth has sky-rocketed since the pandemic as the nation’s consumer economy transitions from cash to cashless payments. With the latest acquisition, the company will further accelerate growth in the commerce space.  

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/pine-labs-acquires-payments-platform-fave-for-45-million/articleshow/82046470.cms