Photo credit: Pine Labs

Pine Labs, a merchant platform, has secured a Singapore court approval to move its operations in the city-state to India, TechCrunch reported, citing a regulatory filing. It aims to merge its entities in Singapore and India, effectively transferring assets and resources.

According to the regulatory filing, the transfer will help Pine Labs “achieve business synergies and more economies of scale,” among other benefits. These can drive the firm’s efforts for high operational efficiency.

The company joins other top Indian startups like Meesho, Razorpay, Udaan, and PhonePe that are also relocating or have relocated their overseas branches back to India.

An investor focused in Indian companies told TechCrunch that this trend may come from the fact that companies with valuations below US$20 billion get less coverage from analysts in developed markets, resulting in lower demand from institutional investors.

However, the investor noted that in India, tech companies can often raise more capital due to high demand for their services.

With a valuation worth over US$5 billion, Pine Labs is backed by investors like Peak XV, Temasek, and PayPal. In 2022, the merchant platform acquired Singapore-based fintech firm Fave in a US$45 million deal.

See also: Why are Indian startups ready to pay big for a ‘reverse flip’?