Fave announced on Tuesday that it has been acquired by Pine Labs, an Indian merchant commerce platform, for USD 45 million. Pine Labs said that Indian consumers will be able to use the Fave app to earn rewards when making purchases with 500,000 merchants across 3,700 cities in India.
“India has the digital advantage due to its young demographic, a 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,” said Fave founder Joel Neoh.
Pine Labs is a cloud-based payments service provider that issues, processes, and distributes digital gift cards. Key investors include Mastercard, PayPal, and Temasek. In July 2020, the Indian unicorn already invested in Fave and integrated its QR codes with Pine Labs’ terminals.
“Fave helps consumers apply rewards, coupons, and gift cards during purchases and offers cashback on all transactions in a seamless manner,” said Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau. “Joel and the Fave team have built a loyal consumer base with their smooth checkout experience.”
The startup is currently operating in 35 cities across Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. There will be no immediate changes to Fave’s leadership team, which will spearhead the consumer platform across Asia and hire over 100 new employees in Southeast Asia and India. Fave’s investors will receive an all-cash payout, whereas its founders and key employees will receive both cash and Pine Labs shares.
This article was originally published by Vulcan Post.