IPO-bound Pine Labs appoints former Flipkart, PayPal exec Phanimohan Kalagara as CTO

• Pine Labs’ former CTO Sanjeev Kumar will now head the research and development (R&D) vertical.
• Kalagara has spent 12 years working with PayPal, three years at Flipkart and about 8 years working in the USA.
• Pine Labs is expected to file the preliminary paperwork for its public listing by the end of October.

Payments company Pine Labs, which is expected to file for its initial public offering (IPO) soon, has appointed former Flipkart executive Phanimohan Kalagara as its chief technology officer (CTO).

Sanjeev Kumar, former CTO of Pine Labs, will now move to a new role within the company and head the research and development (R&D) vertical.

Phanimohan Kalagara has over two decades of experience in the field of technology having worked in ecommerce, financial technology, and computer-aided design & computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) industries. He also has expertise in emerging technologies like virtual reality.

“With Pine Labs, I see a massive opportunity to make a substantial difference to the future of merchant commerce in Asia. Looking forward to being part of this team that is set to shift the fintech landscape in Asia," Kalagara said in a press note.

He has previously worked as the senior vice president of product and engineering at Flipkart, senior director of engineering PayPal and director of software development at Advanced Interactive Systems. He spent 12 years working with PayPal and three years at Flipkart.

“We have made several new appointments in the past one year to bolster our technology capabilities. Phani [Kalagara] comes with a wealth of experience in product and engineering and is the right man to lead our Technology team during this exciting phase of growth for the company,” Amrish Rau, chief executive of Pine Labs, said.

Pine Labs is expected to file the preliminary paperwork for its public listing by the end of October. The company is expected to list in Nasdaq listing in the US and plans to raise over a billion dollars from this issue, as per media reports.

The company has reportedly hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to manage the proposed IPO.

The Noida-based fintech startup has raised $838 million to date from marquee investors like IIFL Asset Management, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Neuberger Berman Loan Advisers Holdings and more.

Pine Labs had raised $100 million from Invesco Developing Markets Fund in September, and it is now valued at $3 billion.

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