Merchant commerce platform Pine Labs has announced that it has acquired Mumbai-based online payments startup Qfix, for an undisclosed sum, the company said in a statement. 

The announcement is the latest in the line of appointments and investments the education platform has seen in the past year, ranging from Flipkart’s Phanimohan Kalagara joining as CTO, Cred’s Kunal Shah joining their board of directors and Marc Mathenz joining as CFO.

"Qfix's innovations through their smart invoicing, workflow management & billing tools would help offer a complete merchant payments and commerce platform through Plural," said Amrish Rau, CEO, Pine Labs.

Incorporated in Singapore, Pine Labs' key investors include Sequoia India, Actis Capital, Temasek, PayPal and Mastercard. Post acquisition of Qfix, Pine labs will leverage its education platform to use it to unlock payment requirements of over 5,000 education institutes ranging from K12 to large professional colleges and institutes spread across India. 

"This acquisition will help us serve the needs of multiple sectors requiring curated and innovative online payment solutions and commerce solutions that are secure, seamless, and speedier when it comes to execution," said Venugopal Choudhary, MD, Qfix Infocomm Pvt Ltd.

Also, in April 2021, Pine Labs acquired Fave, a consumer fintech platform that provides a smart payment app to the smart generation of consumers looking to pay and save. It would be interesting to see how the company aligns all the acquisitions to set up a clear cut in the foray in the new business markets.