SEBI approves Pine Labs IPO as it posts first annual profit
The fintech unicorn is set to use IPO proceeds for debt repayment, subsidiary investments, and tech upgrades.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has cleared the initial public offering (IPO) of Pine Labs. The firm aims to raise Rs 2,600 crore through fresh equity.
The fintech unicorn submitted its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on June 26, taking a step closer to its public listing on Indian stock exchanges.
According to the DRHP, proceeds from the fresh issue will be used to repay or prepay borrowings of about Rs 870 crore. Additional funds will support investments in its subsidiaries—Qwikcilver Singapore, Pine Payment Solutions Malaysia, and Pine Labs UAE—along with upgrades to cloud infrastructure, digital checkout solutions, IT assets, and other general corporate purposes.
Pine Labs may also consider a pre-IPO placement of shares up to Rs 520 crore, subject to regulatory and board approval.
The IPO is being led by a group of prominent investment banks, including Axis Capital, Morgan Stanley India, Citigroup Global Markets India, J.P. Morgan India, and Jefferies India, acting as book-running lead managers.
A significant portion of existing shareholders will participate in the OFS.
Key participants include Peak XV Partners, Temasek’s Macritchie Investments, Actis, PayPal, Mastercard, Invesco, Madison India Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, MW XO Digital Finance, and Lone Pine Capital’s Lone Cascade. Peak XV Partners is expected to sell up to 39 million shares, reducing its 20.35% stake by 3.6%, while Actis and Temasek will each sell around 14.8–14.9 million shares, trimming their holdings by about 1.4%.
Pine Labs has hit profitability for the first time just as the payments company prepares to head to the bourses.
The company posted its maiden net profit of Rs 44.97 crore in FY25, swinging from a loss of Rs 182.31 crore a year earlier, according to company disclosures citing consolidated financial results. Total income rose 25.5% to Rs 1,735.1 crore in FY25 from Rs 1,382.6 crore a year earlier. Meanwhile, expenses edged up 3.3% to Rs 1,676.8 crore compared with Rs 1,622.8 crore in FY24.
Edited by Megha Reddy