State Bank of India pumps $20 million into Pine Labs in latest fintech bet

State Bank of India (SBI) has invested $20 million in Pine Labs, said the leading merchant commerce platform on Tuesday, indicating India’s largest lender is betting on fintech as a way of future-proofing.

“We are thrilled to have the largest bank of India, State Bank of India, place their trust in us and welcome them in this journey where we are empowering merchants with seamless and secure payment experiences across offline and online platforms,” said B Amrish Rau, CEO, Pine Labs. 

In 2021, Pine Labs had raised a total round size of $600 million from a marquee set of new investors and followed it up with a $100-million fundraise from US-based Invesco Developing Markets Fund. In addition to augmenting its merchant commerce offerings at the offline point-of-sale, Pine Labs is now looking to invest in scaling Plural, its newly launched brand of online payment products and emerge as an omnichannel partner of choice for merchants.

“In the last one year, several marquee investors have placed their trust in our business model and growth momentum and that is a gratifying feeling. This association with SBI is a personally satisfying experience as I had started my career selling financial services technology to SBI.”

Pine Labs, which is backed by Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, Actis, PayPal and Mastercard among other leading global investors, competes with other fintech companies such as BharatPe, Mswipe, Paytm and Razorpay.

It is also expanding its Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) business across India and Southeast Asia. The company has entered the consumer payment space with its April 2021 acquisition of Fave, one of Southeast Asia’s leading consumer fintech platform, and has a leading presence in the Gift, Prepaid and Stored Value segment through its 2019 acquisition of Qwikcilver.

In July 2021, it closed a $600-million fundraising round at a $3-billion valuation. The investment is expected to help the company in its plan to go public this year or early next year.