Qwikcilver: Pine Labs sends itself a $110-million online gift voucher

Offline payments processor Pine Labs is going online with its acquisition of gifting platform Qwikcilver. There is little precedence for this move even globally. While there’s a first-mover advantage, it is a risky move

The Qwikcilver buy unlocks more revenue, more markets and the network to take Pine Labs to online merchants

Online and offline payment companies are wading into each other’s waters as they all try to get a 360-degree view of the user

Qwikcilver’s revenues come as a big top up for Pine Labs’ revenues

Out of all the growth paths available, Pine Labs’ best bet is to earn more out of every merchant it is catering to

The best gifts are those that keep on giving. It turns out buying a gift-management platform could work out the same.

Offline payment processor Pine Labs bought gifting platform Qwikcilver Solutions for $110 million last month. And that buy checks multiple boxes for Pine Labs—more revenue, more retailers to reach out in India and internationally. But most importantly, it lets Pine Labs cross over—from enabling payment acceptance over point of sale (PoS) devices across 100,000 brick and mortar retailers to the madly competitive world of powering payments for online retail.

This comes at a time when every single online payment company—Paytm*, PhonePe, Google Pay, Amazon Pay—has waded offline.

AUTHOR

Arundhati Ramanathan

Arundhati is Bengaluru-based. She is interested in how people use money in the digital age and how new economies will take shape based on that interaction. She has spent over 10 years reporting and writing on various subjects. Previous stints were at Mint, Outlook Business and Reuters.

View Full Profile

Others tell you what. We tell you the ‘So What?’

Read articles that decode the most significant shifts happening around business, technology, startups and healthcare. 1000+ articles for subscribers of the India edition. 150+ articles for subscribers of the Southeast Asia edition. Plus premium newsletters that help you make sense of the world around you.

So much journalism in India is superficial.

Articles are generic, almost cookie-cutter in their approach. And they don’t provide enough context on the issues they cover. The Ken is different. I don’t always agree with everything they say but I appreciate their commitment to publishing deeply reported narratives and investigations. Their reporters find new ways to analyze tech among other industries. And that’s always worth a read.

Sid Talwar / Co-Founder and Partner / Lightbox Venture Capital

As entrepreneurs, we thrive on being in the know at all times.

A personal subscription to The Ken was a no brainer. But as startup founders, this isn't enough. Team members also need to be in the know, for everyone handles customer-facing responsibilities and an ecosystem change that impacts customers also impacts us

Kiran Jonnalagadda / Co-founder / HasGeek and Internet Freedom Foundation