PayPal Invests In Pine Labs, The Indian POS Device Maker

PayPal, the digital payments company, has participated in a round of fundraising with Pine Labs of India, in which it raised $125 million.

According to a report in TechCrunch, PayPal and Temasek, the sovereign investment fund from the Singaporean government, teamed up to make an investment in Pine Labs with both taking a minority stake in the company. TechCrunch noted that, in 2009, Sequoia Capital made an investment in Pine Lab and remains its largest single investor. With the round of funding, Pine Labs has raised a total of $208 million. It closed on an $82 million round in March with private equity firms Actis and Altimeter Capital investing in the company.  At the time the company had a valuation of $900 million.

Pine Labs makes a point of sale (POS) device for debit and credit cards, as well as digital payment methods, such as mobile wallets. It also supports India’s UPI project, noted TechCrunch.

Pine Labs Founder Lokvir Kapoor a said in a statement, “We’re teaming up with Temasek and PayPal at a time when the Indian payments market is at an inflection point. We are a leader in the offline payments space, a position that is critical in enabling the ecosystem of online payment products. The investments will help us move a step closer to our vision for building a world-class merchant-centric payments ecosystem.”

PayPal has been busy when it comes to making investments in the payment market. Earlier this month, PayPal disclosed its paying $2.2 billion to acquire iZettle, the European FinTech that will enable PayPal to help small businesses take on Amazon and other large retail and eCommerce players. PayPal is paying cash for iZettle and is aiming to have the deal closed in the third quarter. iZettle’s Co-founder and CEO Jacob de Geer will reportedly continue on with iZettle, according to TechCrunch at the time.

PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman said in a statement, “iZettle and PayPal are a strategic fit, with a shared mission, values and culture — and complementary product offerings and geographies. In today’s digital world, consumers want to be able to buy when, where and how they want. With nearly half a million merchants on their platform, Jacob de Geer and his team add best-in-class capabilities and talent that will expand PayPal’s market opportunity to be a global one-stop solution for omnichannel commerce.”