Pine Labs Allotted 2.3 Cr Shares To CEO Amrish Rau Ahead Of IPO

Ahead of filing its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), fintech major Pine Labs allotted 2.32 Cr shares to its CEO Amrish Rau between January 1, 2025 and June 25, 2025. 

Under its second ESOP Plan, Pine Labs Employee Stock Option Plan 2025 (ESOP 2025), the fintech company has granted 6.16 Cr shares to its employees, of which 3.5 Cr shares have vested. 

While Rau was allotted 2.32 Cr shares as part of ESOP 2025, other top executives were allotted lakhs of shares under it. The company’s ex-CFO Marc Kay Mathenz, who quit earlier this month, was granted 8.42 Lakh shares. 

President and CBO Kush Mehra (5.26 Lakh shares), COO Sumit Chopra (4.31 Lakh), CEO of subsidiary Setu Anand Raisinghani (4.17 Lakh shares) were among the other prominent allottees. 

The company’s DRHP also revealed that Pine Labs’ board of directors, earlier this month, approved a resolution to grant 1.1 Cr more shares to CEO Rau under ESOP 2025. These shares would be granted subject to approval of the company’s shareholders at a general meeting prior to the filing of the Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) with the RoC. It may also grant more stock options to other key managerial personnel, senior management and other employees ahead of filing the RHP.

Rau plans to sell 18.15 Lakh shares of the company within three months of the listing of the company’s shares on the stock exchanges. Ex-CFO Mathenz plans to dump 14.68 Lakh shares during this period, while ex-CTO Sanjeev Kumar plans to sell 1 Cr shares. 

Pine Labs filed the papers for its much-awaited IPO yesterday. It is looking to raise INR up to 2,600 Cr via a fresh issue. Investors like Peak XV Partners, Actis, PayPal, Mastercard, among others, will sell up to 14.78 Cr shares under the offer for sale. 

However, Rau won’t sell any of his stake as part of the IPO. He held 2.5 Cr shares or a 2.35% stake in the company as of June 25.

Notably, he joined the company in 2020 as its CEO. Prior to that, he helmed PayU India for over three years. His earlier venture, Citrus Pay, which was backed by Sequoia India (now Peak XV Partners), was acquired by PayU in 2016 for $150 Mn. Following that, he joined PayU India as its CEO.

Pine Labs was founded by Lokvir Kapoor, Rajul Garg and Tarun Upadhyay in 1998 with an initial focus on providing card-based payment and loyalty solutions to the retail petroleum industry. 

Over the years, the company pivoted from petroleum industry to broader retail, becoming the point-of-sale (PoS) technology provider. Now, Pine Labs serves over 9.2 Lakh merchants, 666 consumer brands and enterprises and164 financial institutions across India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, providing a range of financial solutions and technology.

Cofounder Garg, who was the CEO of the company till 2003, quit its board in 2008. He is now the founder and managing partner of Leo Capital. Upadhyay too quit the company to start other businesses.

Meanwhile, Kapoor continues to serve as the executive chairman of the company, holding close to 2% stake in Pine Labs. He will offload 37.64 Lakh shares via the OFS.