Pine Labs acquires digital payments start-up Fave in $45m deal
Consumer fintech Fave has been acquired by India-based merchant commerce firm Pine Labs in a deal valued at over $45 million.
Pine Labs provides terminal hardware and software to merchants
Fave, which is active in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia), claims to have six million consumers, and have saved them over $400 million across 40,000 retailers.
It offers merchants the ability to create gift cards and accept digital payments through QR codes. Customers receive loyalty points automatically though the Fave app.
Pine Labs, which offers payments terminals and invoicing tools to businesses, first invested in Fave in 2020.
Its customers in India can now use Fave across 500,000 merchant network points in 3,700 cities.
The two firms say the deal accelerates their collective growth Asia and unlocks “massive consumer opportunities” across multiple markets.
Following the deal, Fave is hiring 100 new employees to “accelerate cashless payments and smart savings” in the region.
The firm will continue to introduce new smart payment features via its platform, which it says can unlock “new ways to maximise joy and value in every shopping experience”.
Fave already has existing partnerships with Singtel and DBS Bank, which it says has enabled over half a million Singaporeans to use e-wallet apps to pay at Fave partner stores.
India’s digital advantage
“Consumers have tremendous choices in their payment types,” says B. Amrish Rau, CEO at Pine Labs.
“Fave helps consumers apply their best rewards, coupons, gift cards and cashbacks on all transactions in a seamless manner.”
Joel Neoh, CEO at Fave, says India has “the digital advantage” with a “young demography, a growing aspirational middle class with rising disposable income and increasing digital savviness”.
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