Mastercard invests in PoS solutions provider Pine Labs

New Delhi, Jan 24 (IANS) Point-of-sale payments solutions company Pine Labs on Friday announced an investment by global payments technology giant Mastercard.

“This relationship is a great validation of the top-quality products that Pine Labs delivers to merchants,” Lokvir Kapoor, Founder and Chairman of Pine Labs, said in a statement.

“Together, we have a unique opportunity to use Mastercard’s global presence and technology infrastructure to enhance our growth and enable us to meet the growing needs of customers in India and beyond,” Kapoor said.

The collaboration will deliver an extensive range of card and real-time payments-based installment financing at checkout – in-store and online.

Together, the companies will offer a suite of value-added services, including Pine Labs’ stored value solutions which will replace the paper ones now widely used by companies, retailers and people in South Asia and many other markets.

The investment is part of a partnership to continue the rapid growth of convenient electronic payment options for consumers across the region.

The two companies did not disclose the terms of the deal.

“By joining forces with Pine Labs, we are reinforcing our strategy to deliver choice to consumers and to be the partner of choice for our customers in South Asia and around the world,” said Ari Sarker, Co-president for Asia Pacific at Mastercard.

From its beginnings as an offline retail payment provider a decade ago, Pine Labs has evolved into offering payment acceptance technology, stored value products, in-store consumer credit and other merchant solutions in India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Pine Labs said it now processes payments of $30 billion per year and serves some 140,000 merchants across about 450,000 network points.