Pine Labs in talks to acquire Setu

Pine Labs, the Noida-based fintech unicorn, is in advanced negotiations to acquire Setu, a Bangalore-based application programming interface (API) infrastructure company in a cash and equity deal for $70- $100 million.

Setu’s technology stack eliminates the need for financial service providers to make multiple integrations for one feature that will help Pine Labs to maintain and refine its financial data infrastructure at a time when it is actively eyeing India’s digital lending space.

Setu provides API infrastructure, which allows banks and other financial institutions to launch financial services on its platform. If the acquisition comes through, Pine Labs will get access to Setu’s Account Aggregator consent framework and technology, helping it improve market time for its planned financial services launch.

Sources said that the due-diligence is underway and Setu’s board has also been apprised of the offer from Pine Labs. Currently, Pine Labs has the exclusivity window for about a month.

Setu allows companies to break through old modes of loan assessment such as SMS readings, screen scrapings and file uploads and allows service providers to seamlessly collect data through consumer consent.