Pine Labs sets IPO band 26% below grey market peak; promoters, investors reap multibagger gains

Pine Labs had once commanded a premium in the grey market, hitting a peak of Rs 385 per share in August 2025.

The recent trend of promoters and early investors striking gold while retail participants bear losses continued with Pine Labs Ltd’s price band announcement. The merchant-commerce platform has set a price band of Rs 210–221 per share, valuing the company at about Rs 25,376 crore. The band is roughly 26 percent below its last unlisted market price of Rs 298 per share.

Pine Labs had once commanded a premium in the grey market, hitting a peak of Rs 385 per share in August 2025. That implies a steep erosion of more than 43 percent from the IPO’s upper band, underscoring the sharp markdown that late-stage and retail investors face ahead of listing.

While fresh investors enter at a discount, early backers are poised to cash out with staggering gains. Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India), which owns around 20 percent of Pine Labs, stands out. Its average acquisition price is just Rs 5.60 per share. The firm’s stake, valued at roughly Rs 121 crore pre-band announcement, now stands at an eye-popping Rs 4,775 crore — a surge of nearly 3,850 percent.

Top management also benefits richly. CEO and Managing Director Amrish Rau, who holds 2.47 percent, purchased shares at an average of Rs 6.62 each. His holding value soars to an estimated Rs 584 crore post price-band announcement, marking a 3,240 percent jump. Co-founder Lokvir Kapoor’s extraordinary windfall is even sharper: his stake, acquired at an average of just 50 paise per share, rises from near-negligible valuation to roughly Rs 461 crore — an astonishing gain of more than 45,000 percent.

Several institutional investors are also set for multi-fold returns. Actis, holding 5.75 percent, sees its stake jump from about Rs 439 crore to over Rs 1,356 crore, a surge exceeding 210 percent. Temasek, through MacRitchie Investments, sees its shareholding value climb from Rs 578 crore to around Rs 1,665 crore, a gain of nearly 188 percent. PayPal Pte’s holding rises 185 percent to about Rs 1,410 crore, while Mastercard Asia records a 71 percent return on its investment.

Not every early investor walks away smiling. AIM Investment Fund, exiting a portion of its stake, sees a roughly 10 percent shortfall to its average buy price of Rs 243.90 per share. Lone Cascade LP secures a modest 15 percent gain, based on its average entry of Rs 191 per share, with a stake now valued at Rs 560 crore.

Despite this wealth creation for insiders, concerns linger for new investors. Analysts caution that the discount may not shield public subscribers, as the firm’s profitability remains uncertain. Pine Labs posted a profit just ahead of the IPO — a pattern reminiscent of Urban Company, which slipped back into losses shortly after listing. Further corrections may be possible if grey-market premiums cool or sentiment weakens, they warn.

Founded in 1998 as a point-of-sale device provider, Pine Labs has evolved into a full-stack merchant commerce platform offering buy-now-pay-later services, invoicing, loyalty solutions, and digital payments via its Fave acquisition. The company serves more than one million merchants across India, Malaysia and the UAE.

Last valued at $5 billion in 2022, it redomiciled from Singapore to India in early 2025 ahead of its listing. In a sign of market realities, Pine Labs trimmed its IPO size — the fresh issue reduced to Rs 2,080 crore from Rs 2,600 crore, while the offer-for-sale shrank to 8.23 crore shares from 14.78 crore earlier.