Baron Capital, Invesco Bump Up Pine Labs’ Valuation

US-based investment firms Baron Capital and Invesco have marked up the value of their respective investments in fintech unicorn Pine Labs. 

As per regulatory filings seen by Inc42, Baron Capital hiked the valuation of the startup to $5.8 Bn at the end of December 2023 from $5.3 Bn in September 2023, up 9.4%. 

Similarly, Invesco bumped up the value of its investments in Pine Lab by more than 23% to $4.8 Bn as of December last year versus $3.9 Bn in October 2023.

Notably, Pine Labs witnessed multiple markdowns by its backers last year. Baron Capital slashed the fintech player’s value by 5% on a quarterly basis at the end of March 2023, while Invesco internally trimmed Pine Labs’ valuation to $3.9 Bn as of October last year. 

Another US-based investor Fidelity had marked down the value of its stake in Pine Labs to $3 Bn at the end of October 2023 from $4.7 Bn in August 2023.

Such was the spate of valuation cuts that Baron Capital last year noted that its Indian equities had suffered two consecutive quarters of underperformance and valuation reset in the second half of FY23.

The wave of valuation cuts was largely attributed to the raging funding winter and mounting losses of Indian unicorns, which were under investor radar at the beginning of last year. As backers pitched for profitability and sustainability, homegrown new-age tech companies undertook drastic measures, including layoffs, to curb losses.

Notably, Pine Labs has unveiled a slew of new offerings for small businesses and enterprises in the past year, which has helped it shore up revenues and retain clients. What has also helped the startup acquire more customers is its expansion and acquisition spree.

However, the needle has failed to budge on the profitability front. The fintech unicorn saw its net loss double YoY to INR 56.2 Cr in FY23 largely on account of a big difference in the deferred tax expense. However, operating revenue surged 37% to INR 1,280 Cr in FY23 as against INR 932.3 Cr in FY22.

The company has also been looking to move its headquarters back to India with an eye on a public listing. 

Founded in 1998 by Lokvir Kapoor, Rajul Garg, and Tarun Upadhyay, Pine Labs provides financing and transaction technology to merchants with POS machines.