March 19, 2019

Pine Labs signs definitive agreement to acquire Qwikcilver for USD 110 million

New Delhi, March 19, 2019: India's leading merchant platform company, Pine Labs, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Bangalore-based gift card solutions provider, Qwikcilver, for USD 110 million, subject to closing conditions. The transaction has been funded from the company's cash reserves and additional funding from existing investors.

Pine Labs processes annualized payments of USD 20 billion. This acquisition will bring together the strengths of Pine Labs' merchant-focused and Qwikcilver's brand-focused software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology platforms, and augment their Indian and international market reach. The combined gift solutions business will be the largest in India with a customer base of over 250 brands and retailers, and 1500 enterprise customers.

Qwikcilver, which was founded in 2006, is a full-stack gift card service provider, powering nine out of every 10 gift cards in the country and managing an annualized gross transaction value of USD 1.5 billion across India, Middle East and South East Asia.

Pine Labs started its own gift solutions business - Pine Perks - four years ago. Today, Pine Perks gift cards are used by 600 organizations across banking, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, FMCG and telecom industries.

"At Pine Labs, our primary focus is to bring value to our merchants and their customers. According to market estimates, gift, as a category, is growing at a high double-digit rate annually. Qwikcilver's technology and market expertise will help us scale up this business and we are delighted to welcome it into Pine Labs," said Vicky Bindra, Chief Executive Officer, Pine Labs.

"We see excellent complementary strengths between the Pine Labs' and Qwikcilver's gift businesses. While Pine Labs has a strong merchant network, Qwikcilver has market-leading processing and distribution capability. We are confident that both teams' deep domain experience will accelerate our vision of building a world-class merchant-centric ecosystem," Bindra added.

Kumar Sudarsan, Co-Founder & CEO of Qwikcilver said, "We have built a robust and versatile stored value and gift card technology platform. We have also built a strong network and enduring strategic brand relationships with the best brands in India, in the Middle East and in the South East Asian markets. With Pine Labs, we have the potential and ability to significantly scale the gift card category and drive consumer adoption with novel products and solutions. We are very excited about taking the next step in our journey with Pine Labs."

Kumar will join the Pine Labs leadership team after the completion of the transaction.