Mumbai : Indian fintech company Pine Labs made a strong entry into the stock market on Friday as its shares opened with a sharp rise and continued to trade higher through the morning session. The stock began at around two hundred forty two rupees against the issue price of two hundred twenty one rupees and soon climbed to nearly two hundred eighty four rupees. This marked an increase of close to thirty percent and reflected strong investor interest despite earlier concerns about the company’s valuation.

Pine Labs raised about four hundred forty million dollars through its initial public offering which included both a fresh issue of shares and an offer for sale by existing investors. The market valued the company at around three point six billion dollars at the time of listing. The IPO had drawn solid demand from institutional investors with the qualified institutional buyers portion receiving more than twice the number of shares on offer.

The company provides payment solutions for merchants and is known for its point of sale devices and digital payment services. It competes with major players such as Paytm and PhonePe. In the last financial year Pine Labs reported revenue of about twenty two point seven billion rupees with losses narrowing compared to the previous year. Analysts said that while the company is still loss making its steady growth and improving financial performance helped build confidence ahead of the listing.

India has seen a very active IPO market this year with more than three hundred companies going public and raising significant funds. Pine Labs is one of the most watched fintech listings of the year because of the participation of global investors including Peak XV Partners Temasek PayPal and Mastercard.

Market experts noted that the strong listing reflects optimism about the digital payments sector but they also cautioned that the company will need to show consistent progress toward profitability to justify its current valuation.