Pine Labs-Owned Setu Ropes In Former SAP India Executive Anand Raisinghani As CEO

Fintech unicorn Pine Labs-owned API infrastructure company Setu has roped in SAP India’s former executive Anand Raisinghani as its new CEO.

Prior to taking up the CEO role, Raisinghani was heading the professional services, BFSI, telecom and media businesses as a vice president for the SaaS giant SAP. 

Before joining SAP in 2018, he was the sales head for India and middle east for consumer credit reporting agency Equifax. His 24-year career has also seen him working for corporates like Wipro and IBM. 

Raisinghani said, “…Setu’s strong execution ability to offer innovative solutions that keep pace with the rapid evolution within the industry bodes well for us. I look forward to working closely with our customers and partners, to achieve new milestones together.”

The API infrastructure provider was set up by Sahil Kini and Nikhil Kumar in 2018. It offers services across bill payments, savings, credit and payments. In June 2022, the startup got completely acquired by the fintech unicorn in a deal valued in the range of $70-$75 Mn.  

Post the acquisition, Setu retained its brand identity, business, teams, and its customers as well as the leadership from its founders. In a statement, Pine Labs said that Raisinghani will work closely with cofounder Nikhil Kumar. 

Further, shortly after the acquisition, Setu received an in-principle licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an account aggregator. 

The new appointment at the C-suite of the startup comes at a time when its losses have continued to grow steeper. In the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), the Bengaluru based fintech startup posted a net loss of INR 62 Cr, a 118% year-on-year (YoY) increase from FY22’s INR 28.4 Cr. On the other hand, its operating revenue saw a marginal increase of 22% to INR 14.2 Cr from INR 11.6 Cr in FY22. 

Its parent entity, Pine Labs, is also in the midst of a similar financial condition. Its consolidated net loss more than doubled to INR 56.2 Cr in FY23 from INR 22.6 Cr reported in FY22. The increase in loss for Pine Labs primarily arose from a big difference in the deferred tax expense. However, its revenue from operations stood at INR 1,280.5 Cr, up 37% from FY22’s INR 932.3 Cr.