$1 Club, page-27518

When I started investing in IOU 20 months ago I thought IOU and its management were a capable group which could propel IOU to heights like Pine Labs, Kredivo, Grab Pay, Atome etc.

Even if not near these valuations but would be much better than what we have seen over the last 20 months.

Has been a true disappointment with what IOU management dished up IMHO - I am happy to trade this when it next pumps and it gets easier as there would be no hesitation knowing the calibre of what we have here - a pump & dump meme stock

Digital payments startup Pine Labs filed confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO) to raise roughly $500 million at an estimated valuation between $5.5 billion to $7 billion, Bloomberg reported on Monday (Jan. 10).

Backed by Sequoia India, Mastercard and other big-name investors, Pine Labs is headed by CEO Amrish Rau. In July, the firm raised about $600 million from investors including Fidelity Management & Research Co. and BlackRock.

The startup named Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley to lead the deal. The deal is still in the works, and size and timing could change.

See also: Report: India's Pine Labs is Weighing IPO

The company said in October that it was eyeing an IPO within a year, PYMNTS reported. The startup was valued then at an estimated $3.5 billion. Pine Labs posted revenue of up to $35 billion annually, and services the hospitality, telecom and electronics sectors, among others.

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Noida, India, the digital payments gateway and commerce platform count Burger King, McDonald's, Flipkart, Starbucks and other big brands among its clients. The company serves over 150,000 merchants in India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Pine Labs is in the middle of expanding its buy now pay later (BNPL) presence across India and Southeast Asia following its April $45 million acquisition of Malaysian eCommerce FinTech startup Fave and 2019 $110 million acquisition of QwikCilver, PYMNTS reported.

The State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest commercial bank, also backed Pine Labs with a $20 million investment last week.

Read more: State Bank of India Backs Pine Labs with $20M

Invesco Developing Markets Fund invested $100 million in Pine Labs in September and has been working to scale its prepaid issuing stack, online payments and BNPL services.

Also in September, Pine Labs teamed with Standard Chartered Malaysia for BNPL services, offering 0% installments on credit cards at the more than 25,000 merchants across Malaysia equipped with Pine Labs point of sale (POS) terminals, PYMNTS reported.

BNPL in Malaysia is forecast to expand through 2028 at a CAGR of 33.2%, according to a report by Research and Markets.