Pine Labs acquires Fave for $45 million

Payment solutions provider Pine Labs on Tuesday said it has acquired consumer fintech platform Fave in a deal valued over $45 million (about ₹339 crore).

Fave’s founders will have their roles expanded to lead the overall consumer platform for the group across Asia. Fave will also be hiring over 100 new employees in South East Asia and India, a statement said.

Its investors will receive an all-cash payout, while founders and key Fave employees will receive both cash and Pine Labs shares, it added.

Fave has enabled six million consumers in South East Asia to save over $ 400 million across 40,000 retailers since 2016. It operates in 35 cities across Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

In August last year, Fave had announced a partnership with Singtel and DBS Bank that has enabled over half a million Singaporeans to use their respective Singtel Dash and Paylah! e-wallet app to pay at Fave partner stores.

“The acquisition will help both companies accelerate their growth in the Asia region and unlock massive consumer opportunities across retail, F&B, fashion, and fast-moving consumer goods markets. Joining forces with Pine Labs will reinforce Fave’s market position in Southeast Asia,” it said.

With this acquisition, Indian consumers will be able to use Fave app later this year to save across 500,000 merchant network points powered by Pine Labs across 3,700 cities in India, it added.

“Consumers have tremendous choices in their payment types. 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,” Pine Labs chief executive B Amrish Rau said.

Joel Neoh, co-founder and chief executive officer of Fave, said India has the digital advantage with young demography, growing aspirational middle class with rising disposable income and increasing digital savviness.

“We are confident that the APAC e-payments landscape will continue to achieve exponential growth in the coming decade. Together, we will be stronger, faster and better,” he added.