Pine Labs, Visa launch sound device for digital payments

Visa, a leading digital payments services company, is partnering with fintech company Pine Labs to scale up digital payments acceptance across the country. 

The partnership aims to upgrade the in-store payment experience of millions of merchants who currently rely only on printed QR codes or other low-tech solutions. 

The two companies have jointly unveiled Pine Labs Mini, a soundbox-enabled device for QR, near-field communication (NFC) and card payments.

It aims to enable small and medium-sized merchants to capitalise on the growing adoption of tap-to-pay card (and smartphone) payments and UPI in India.

“Pine Labs Mini, unveiled in partnership with Visa today, caters to the needs of India’s micropreneurs and small-scale businesses that have so far stayed away from digital payments adoption due to the perceived cost barriers. We believe Mini’s launch will pave the way for others to start building for mass-use, digital-first payment products,” said B Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs.

Rishi Chhabra, Vice President, Head of Merchant Sales & Acquiring (MS&A) Visa India and South Asia, said, “Visa is delighted to partner with Pine Labs to accelerate digitisation among merchants with the launch of the new Pine Labs Mini. We believe this will transform the way small businesses accept transactions, especially contactless payments through cards and smartphones.”

Earlier this month, Pine Labs’ subsidiary Setu had announced the launch of UPISetu, a platform for businesses and developers to tap the ongoing advances in the Unified Payments Interface space.