Pine Labs rewards CEO Amrish Rau with Rs 243 Cr ESOPs ahead of market debut

Merchant payments and lending platform Pine Labs has filed its RHP for a Rs 3,900 crore IPO. In the past four months, the company added ESOPs worth Rs 564.75 crore, with a large portion valued at Rs 243 crore granted to their Chief Executive Officer, Amrish Rau.

According to its RHP, Pine Labs had an ESOP pool of 6.15 crore options valued at Rs 1,360 crore as of June 30, 2025. Over the following four months (July 1 to November 1), the company granted an additional 2.55 crore options, expanding the total pool to 8.7 crore. Of these, 2.75 crore options were exercised and converted into equity shares at exercise prices ranging from Rs 5.4 to Rs 156.

Some options were forfeited or lapsed during the period, leaving Pine Labs with 5.89 crore as a total outstanding ESOP options valued at around Rs 1,300 crore ($148 million).

Of the 2.55 crore options granted in the past four months, 1.1 crore were allotted to CEO Amrish Rau, with the remainder going to other key managerial personnel. According to the red herring prospectus, before June 2025, Rau had already had 2.31 crore options, bringing his total to 3.41 crore worth Rs 755.6 crore.

Pine Labs’ Rs 3,900 crore IPO includes a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 2,080 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 8.23 crore shares valued at Rs 1,820 crore by existing shareholders.

In the OFS, early backer Peak XV is set to receive around Rs 508.4 crore, earning a return of nearly 40x on its investment. Other shareholders, including Madison India, Sofina Ventures, Temasek, PayPal, Mastercard, Invesco, and Lone Cascade, will also participate in the share sale.

Pine Labs recorded a 28.5% year-on-year rise in revenue to Rs 2,274 crore in FY25, up from Rs 1,769 crore in FY24, while its net loss narrowed by 57% to Rs 145 crore. Notably, the company turned profitable in the first quarter of FY26, reporting a net profit of Rs 4.7 crore on revenue of Rs 616 crore.