Temasek-Backed Pine Labs Acquires Asian Payments App Fave

(Bloomberg) -- Pine Labs Pvt, the Indian merchant commerce platform backed by PayPal Holdings Inc., Temasek Holdings Pte and Sequoia India, has acquired Southeast Asian loyalty and cashback platform Fave to expand its consumer business.

The deal is valued at more than $45 million in cash and stock. Following the acquisition, Pine Labs will launch the Fave payments app in India across a network of 500,000 merchants on its platform, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday.

Fave -- rebranded from KFit in 2016 -- was founded by serial entrepreneurs Joel Neoh and Yeoh Chen Chow, who will remain with the company and lead the overall consumer platform. The combined entity plans hire more than 100 new employees across Southeast Asia and India. Fave investors will receive an all cash payout, while founders and key employees will get both cash and Pine Labs shares.

The transaction comes after Pine Labs invested an unspecified amount of money in Fave as part of a partnership deal in July. Fave provides QR payments and loyalty programs to restaurants and retailers in 35 cities across Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

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