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We have priced our IPO for wider merchant participation: Amrish Rau, Pine Labs
Pine Labs has come a long way from its early days as a card payments processor. Over the years, it has grown into a full-fledged fintech, with business straddling prepaid cards, UPI and online payments, and international operations.
Founded in 1998, the Gurugram-based firm is now ready to test the public markets. It has set a price band of Rs 210–221 per share, aiming to raise Rs 3,900 crore through a mix of fresh equity and secondary sales. The company is seeking a valuation of $2.9 billion — roughly 40% shy of its last private round at a $5 billion valuation.
On the sidelines of its IPO briefing, chief executive Amrish Rau spoke with ET's Pratik Bhakta on the rationale behind the IPO and what comes next for the company once it's under the glare of the public markets.
You've been meaning to go public for some time. What made you decide to go for the IPO now?
I think it's a natural progression for any company to go public at some point. Pine Labs has been around for a while. Given our scale and our financials, we felt we could justify being a listed company and show consistency in our revenues and Ebitda.
What are the factors driving the growth at Pine Labs?
There are two or three things. One, we have been able to grow our revenues consistently between 20 to 25% on a year-on-year basis. Our (card) issuance business has grown, and if you look at the financials, you will see that issuance is a capex-and depreciation-light business. Hence, it has a very robust Ebtida.
The second is our approach to solving tech problems and not being a regular payments firm that depends on the merchant discount rate (MDR) or lending. We are charging for our tech capabilities, for our platforms. We've been able to do that because we deliver value. Merchants, banks, and financial institutions are paying us, and that is reflected both in our revenues and Ebitda.
The top banks in the country are our clients. The top five offline retailers are our clients. The top three ecommerce companies are our clients. The top three quick commerce companies are also our clients.
Between the DRHP and the RHP, you have reduced the size of your IPO. Why?
We have the complete support of our customers. So, I wanted to take this entire community along with us for the IPO. Hence, we have priced ourselves such that there is a positivity around the IPO, and the entire community is incentivised to come on board as investors.
The OFS component has shrunk because there was no supply from my investors. With regard to the primary component, the way our financials have moved over the last two, three quarters, we are now PAT positive. Our net debt, which we may reduce, is okay. We are net debt negative, (i.e., have more money than debt). There has been no reduction in the investment areas identified between the DRHP and now.
What will be the top three or four use cases for the primary capital you are raising?
One is global expansion. 15% of our revenues come from our international markets. That's an area that we want to continue to invest in. Second, technology, infrastructure, and building products . Third, per Sebi's rule, a maximum of about 10% of the proceeds can be allocated towards acquisitions. That's what we plan to do.
For many years, we were primarily focussed on card payments. But Pine Labs is a much larger financial services play. Some of this was done through acquisitions.
Is Pine Labs broadly where you wanted it to be? What's your strategy going forward?
Fintech is evolving and changing. I think there is more work to be done on that front. Regarding acquisitions, we have generally tried to acquire new products or new capabilities. We've not tried to do acquisitions from a balance sheet or a revenue management perspective. I see there are more areas we should invest in going forward.
Payment revenues, especially in India, have been talked about a lot, especially with UPI being on zero MDR. Being a core payments company, how tough is this market?
By no stretch am I saying that this is an easy place to be in. Having said that, once you're operating at scale, you will find operational efficiency. Hence, I sometimes feel that payment companies which have not achieved scale will not be able to have the kind of revenue streams we do. Purely because we are at that scale and size where operational efficiencies start to kick in.
What's the thinking on the valuation front? Why did you go for a lower valuation?
Our approach has been, what's the right pricing that will excite the entire community (business owners, merchants), such that they will want in and support us? That's where we have priced it.
Do you think that the ecosystem will be the major investors in this company? Because consumers do not really touch and feel Pine Labs on a daily basis, right?
I agree with you. Look at the number of founders and operators who are already on my cap table. The community has been very supportive of Pine Labs over the years. I want to bring in everybody from the community, get them to join us.
Which of your peers should we benchmark you against? Of course, there are global players like Stripe. But in India, Paytm, Mobikwik, are all more consumer-facing fintechs.
Absolutely, there is no clear comparison with our operating model. The closest I constantly think of is Stripe. But in India, I don't think there is anybody close.
Pine Labs has been offline-focused for the longest time, now there is a large online business too. How do you see the two play out in the future?
The checkout experience is drastically changing in the offline space. There the screen is getting bigger. While online processes are getting more invisible.
Our investment in (fintech infrastructure firm) Setu was really an investment in the online business. Because online is not just about ecommerce or card-based payments, it's also related to BBPS. It's also related to prepaid and gift cards, and Setu brings many of those capabilities.
You're already in southeast Asia. Do you have any other new geographies in mind?
We are present in the UAE, seven countries in Africa, the US, and the Philippines. We are now in 20 countries globally. As in, we have clients in 20 countries.
Globally, it is largely card processing. But in the UAE, Malaysia, and Philippines, we're also into terminals.
Source: EconomicTimes
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