Pine Labs acquires fintech startup Fave for $45 million

• The acquisition is part of Pine Labs' joint growth and expansion plans.
• Fave helps offline businesses to grow and digitally connect with the customers by using cashback and reward points.
• With this acquisition, Fave will be able to launch its payments business in India.

Merchant commerce platform Pine Labs today announced, it has acquired Kuala Lumpur-based fintech platform Fave for $45 million (about Rs 339 crore) in a cash-stock deal to strengthen its consumer vertical in India and other international markets. With this acquisition, Fave will be able to expand its business in India later this year. It currently has its presence in 35 cities across Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.

The acquisition will help both the companies to accelerate their growth in the Asia region and unlock massive consumer opportunities across retail, F&B, fashion, and FMCG markets, the statement said.

Fave founders will have their roles expanded to lead the overall consumer platform across Asia and will be hiring over 100 new employees in Southeast Asia and India to enhance its cashless payment and smart savings across the region.

Founded in 2016 by Joel Neoh, Fave Asia Technologies Sdn. Bhd. Fave helps offline businesses connect and retain customers by using cashback, gift cards, and reward points.

Through its payment app, Customers can make payments to merchants by scanning a QR code in which the customers receives a cashback or reward coins that can be redeemed during future transactions. The fintech startup will introduce a separate smart payment app for Indian customers.

It claims to have a user base of more than 6.1 million, using its smart payments app across 40,000 merchants in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Commenting on the development, Joel Neoh in a statement said, "Really excited to work with Amrish and the Pine Labs team to continue expanding the Fave platform across the Asia region. Pine Labs has been a great partner and investor for us, and it only made sense for us to join our synergies together and work towards our shared vision of building a truly global consumer and merchant platform."

He further said, "India has the digital advantage with young demography, growing aspirational middle class with rising disposable income and increasing digital savviness"

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Speaking on the deal, B. Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs, said, "They want to be sure that they save on every transaction. Fave helps consumers apply their best rewards, coupons, gift cards and cashbacks on all transactions in a seamless manner. Joel and the Fave team have built a loyal consumer base with their smooth checkout experience. We are excited to partner with them in this journey in South East Asia and India.”

Fave is in the advanced stages of getting a UPI (Unified Payments Interface) certification from the National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI) to launch its own payment app in the coming months.

In December last year, Pine Labs had raised $75-$100 million in funding from US-based hedge fund Lone Pine Capital. It counts Mastercard, Temasek Holdings, PayPal Ventures, Altimeter Capital, Flipkart, Sequoia Capital India, Madison India, among others as investors

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