India-based Pine Labs is reportedly close to buying digital gift card firm Qwikcilver Solutions for more than $100m.
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According to the The Economic Times the deal will be a combination of cash and stock.
Current investors of the digital gift card firm such as Sistema Asia Fund, Amazon, Helion Venture Partners and Accel India may “cash out”, while the company’s founders continue to remain on board along with the team.
A source told the financial daily: “Qwikcilver had been looking to raise funds for few months. This deal could give a good exit for its investors. Furthermore, it would aide Pine Labs in creating a strong footing in the gifting space which has huge prospects in overall digital payments.”
The existing investors could get up to a five to six times returns on the capital they have invested. So far, Qwikcilver has raised a total of $20m.
The company was founded by Kumar Sudarshan along with Pratap TP in 2006.
Economic Times could not draw a response from the founders of Qwikcilver Solutions and Pine Labs executive chairman Lokvir Kapoor and its major shareholder Sequoia Capital.
Claimed to have over 3,00,000 network of terminals in India, Pine Labs, which is backed by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, deploys PoS terminals for banks at merchant stores. Recently, it expanded operations into the UAE.
Last June, Pine Labs raised fresh funding of $125m from PayPal and Temasek Capital. Last March, it secured $82m from private equity fund Actis and investment company Altimeter Capital.
Following these investments, Pine Labs’s valuation is reportedly around $1bn.
