CRED Founder Kunal Shah joins Pine Labs board ahead of planned IPO

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Leading merchant commerce platform Pine Labs said on August 10 that CRED Founder Kunal Shah has been appointed to its board as the company gears up for an IPO in the US.

Shah founded CRED in 2018. The company is a members-only credit card bill payment platform which rewards users for payments made through its app. Before CRED, he founded Freecharge in 2010 and served as CEO until it was acquired by Snapdeal for $450 million in 2015.

B. Amrish Rau, CEO, Pine Labs, said, “We are excited to welcome Kunal to our board. He joins a marquee set of investors, advisors, and other visionary board members who are all committed to take Pine Labs to newer heights. Kunal’s deep understanding of the consumer business will be invaluable to us as we explore new opportunities and step into our next phase of growth.”

Apart from being close friends, Shah and Rau have been angel investors in multiple fintech startups, the most recent being ex-Paytm Money CEO Pravin Jadhav’s Raise Financial. Rau was also an early investor in CRED back in 2019.

“The pandemic has catalysed behaviour change among consumers, merchants, and institutions that will drive the fintech sector. Shaping this transformation for the benefit of all stakeholders is a collective responsibility. Pine Labs is a player in digital payments adoption and joining its board is an opportunity to contribute to the ecosystem,” said Kunal Shah, Founder, CRED.

Pine Labs that is backed by Mastercard, Sequoia, Actis Capital, PayPal and Temasek is expanding its footprint in international markets with its Buy Now Pay Later offering, and acquired fintech platform Fave in April 2021. The company also recently announced a total round size of $600 million in July with the entry of global investors.

In April this year, Rau told Moneycontrol  that the company has been in touch with law firms, auditors and bankers for a year but it is not yet in a position to say when it would go for the IPO. Reports suggest that Pine Labs is aiming to list in the US by March 2022.