Asian Tech Press (Jan 10) -- Sequoia Capital-backed Indian digital payments provider Pine Labs has secretly filed for a U.S. IPO to raise $500 million, according to Bloomberg.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report said the Indian startup has confidentially filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering in New York in the first half of this year at the earliest.

The people also revealed that the upcoming IPO could value Pine Labs at about $5.5 billion to $7 billion.

Singapore-based Pine Labs raised about $600 million from investors including Fidelity Management & Research Co. and BlackRock Inc. in July 2021. This round was followed by another $100 million in funding from U.S.-based Invesco Developing Markets Fund.

Earlier this month, the State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest commercial bank, invested $20 million in Pine Labs.

Pine Labs said its key investors include Sequoia India, Actis Capital, Temasek, PayPal and Mastercard.

Founded in 1998 as a retail POS solutions provider, Pine Labs is now focusing on digital payment methods, including digital wallets, and currently serves 150,000 merchants in India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The company's digital payment gateway and commerce platform has a major presence in India, supporting payments for corporate customers including Apple Inc., McDonald's Corp. and Starbucks Corp.