Pine Labs gains approval to merge Singapore and Indian units
What's the story
Merchant commerce start-up, Pine Labs, has bagged approval from a Singapore court to merge its local entity with its Indian unit. This decision will enable the company to transfer all of its assets as well as properties, effectively shifting its operations to the Indian market. The court order has been revealed in a recent regulatory filing viewed by TechCrunch.
Company profile
Pine Labs's products, services, and high-profile backers
Pine Labs offers a range of goods and services to merchants, including cloud-connected point-of-sale machines, as well as working capital. The company is supported by several high-profile investors such as Peak XV, Fidelity, PayPal, Invesco, Temasek, and Alpha Wave. Currently valued at over $5 billion, Pine Labs is part of a growing trend of Indian start-ups relocating their operations to India.
Trending shift
Other start-ups following Pine Labs's trend
Several other start-ups, including Flipkart, Razorpay, Meesho, Zepto, and Udaan are considering similar moves to India. Fintech start-ups PhonePe and Groww have already completed the process of transferring their overseas holding assets to India. However, Pine Labs has not commented on this development. An anonymous investor noted that companies are relocating due to limited demand from institutional investors in developed markets, for start-ups valued below $20 billion.
Strategic move
Relocation expected to benefit Pine Labs's business
According to the court filing, Pine Labs's relocation is expected to help the company "achieve business synergies and more economies of scale." The move will also aid in "achieving cost savings" and "simplification of the shareholding structure." This observation aligns with entrepreneur Gokul Rajaram's statement about software companies in India, where he noted that "in India, everything trades at a premium because there's so much demand for tech companies."