Pine Labs to Deploy 10 Lakh Soundboxes, Driving UPI Expansion Beyond Small‑Ticket Payments

As digital payments move beyond small ticket transactions, Pine Labs today announced a strategic investment to deploy 10 lakh Soundboxes across India. The investment is aimed at strengthening digital payments infrastructure in India.

This development reflects a broader evolution in India's digital payments ecosystem as UPI and other digital payment modes gain traction beyond everyday low-ticket transactions. Through the planned deployment, Pine Labs also aims to improve UPI penetration into new markets and business segments.

“With new monetization levers emerging, we want to walk the talk by investing back into the ecosystem and deepen digital payments adoption. Pine Labs' commitment to deploy 10 lakh soundboxes reflects our belief that sustainable economics and financial inclusion can reinforce each other,” said B Amrish Rau, CEO, Pine Labs.

Built on cloud-first architecture, the soundboxes enable merchants to receive real-time audio confirmation of the payment transaction. The platform supports remote device management, over-the-air software updates, and centralized monitoring, helping merchants scale their payment infrastructure efficiently as transaction volumes grow.

The rollout will support businesses as they participate in India's next wave of digital commerce growth.

About Pine Labs Limited

Pine Labs Limited is a technology company building the Commerce OS that powers digital commerce across South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and the United States. Pine Labs' platform connects merchants, enterprises, financial institutions, and consumers through a unified suite of payments, issuing, credit, and fintech solutions. Serving businesses across online and in-store commerce.

Pine Labs simplifies payments, enables financial services, and creates seamless commerce experiences. Its Commerce OS combines financial platforms, payment orchestration, issuing capabilities, prepaid and stored value solutions, and payment and credit rails, enabling businesses to move money, create customer value, and deliver increasingly intelligent commerce experiences, at scale.

As commerce becomes increasingly real-time, intelligent, and embedded, Pine Labs is building the technology infrastructure that powers the next generation of digital commerce.

To know more, please visit www.pinelabs.com

India’s Ist Nano Surface Care Brand Invisel Raises ₹4 Crore in Funding Led By IAN Angel Fund

(Left to Right) Atharva Ulangwar (Founder & CEO) and Sumedh Yeolekar (Co-founder & CMO); Invisel

IAN Angel Fund, the evergreen fund of IAN Group, has led a ₹4 crore funding round in Invisel, India's first nanotechnology-based home surface protection brand, along with BeyondSeed, with participation from FAAD Capital. The investment marks the company's first external funding after building a profitable business entirely through bootstrapped operations.

Founded by Atharva Ulangwar (Founder & CEO) and Sumedh Yeolekar (Co-founder & CMO), Invisel is introducing a new way for homeowners to care for their living spaces. Instead of repeatedly cleaning surfaces after they get damaged, the company's invisible protective coatings help prevent stains, hard water marks, and everyday wear before they happen.

The idea emerged from a simple observation. While working with industrial nano coatings for several years, founder Atharva saw cutting-edge formulations being supplied to businesses across sectors, but rarely reaching end consumers. Homeowners facing common problems such as stained bathroom glass, fading marble, or damaged upholstery had no practical solution to prevent the damage in the first place.

The company was created to change that by bringing industrial-grade surface protection directly into consumers' hands through products that can be applied in minutes without professional expertise.

Within just over a year of commercial operations, the company has served more than 60,000 customers across 900+ pin codes, generated ₹5.2 crore in FY26 revenue, and achieved profitability all without raising external capital. Alongside its D2C business, they also work with institutional partners who are leading OEMs in the Furniture industry, while offering professional application services across multiple cities.

The fresh capital will be used to establish a dedicated manufacturing and research facility in Pune, strengthen the company's materials science capabilities, accelerate product innovation, build greater consumer awareness around preventive surface care, and support domestic and international expansion.

Atharva Ulangwar, Founder & CEO, Invisel, said, “We spent years making nano coatings that were genuinely world class, and then handing them over to other brands to put their name on. The technology worked, the market access didn't exist. Invisel was built to close that gap: to take industrial grade surface science and put it directly in the hands of an Indian homeowner, in a form they can use themselves.
This round lets us do three things we've been unable to do while bootstrapped: scale up our manufacturing and R&D facility, deepen the formulation science with senior research talent, improve marketing and distribution across online and offline channels, and take the Invisel brand to households across the world. We've grown to over 60,000 customers without external capital and while remaining profitable. With this investment, our focus is on building this new category from scratch and becoming the category leaders. Whenever anyone thinks of Nano Coatings, they should think of Invisel.”

Sumedh Yeolekar, Co-founder & CMO, Invisel, said, “We’re not building another home-care brand; we’re building an entirely new category around preventive care. For decades, consumers have been taught to clean, repair and replace after something gets damaged. We believe the future is about protecting surfaces before that damage happens. Our ambition is to make surface protection as fundamental to owning a home as cleaning itself and make Invisel the brand that defines that shift.”

India's home care industry is evolving rapidly as consumers invest more in premium homes, interiors and long-lasting products. Yet almost every solution available today focuses on cleaning surfaces after they have been damaged. They are taking a different approach by making protection the first step rather than the last.

Its invisible coatings form a protective layer on surfaces such as glass, marble, tiles, fabric, leather and metal, helping reduce cleaning effort while extending the life of household materials. A single application lasts between 6-12 months and can be completed within minutes.

Unlike most nano coating businesses that primarily serve industrial customers, Invisel has built a fully integrated consumer brand with in-house formulation, manufacturing and multiple distribution channels spanning e-commerce, institutional partnerships and professional services.

The company plans to expand its professional application network from three cities to twelve, establish its first international presence in the UAE later this year, introduce five new product categories, and grow its team across research, manufacturing, sales and marketing. It is also investing in advanced materials research and patent development to strengthen its long-term innovation pipeline.

About Invisel

Invisel is India’s first nanotechnology-based home surface protection brand. Founded in November 2024 and headquartered in Pune, Invisel manufactures invisible nano coatings that protect everyday home surfaces including glass, tile, fabric, leather, marble and metal from stains, hard water damage and everyday wear. Alongside its Direct-to-consumer business, Invisel works with institutional partners, including leading OEMs in the furniture industry, while offering professional application services across multiple cities. Invisel manufactures all its formulations in-house and has served over 60,000 customers across India. For more information, visit www.invisel.in

About IAN Angel Fund

IAN Angel Fund, the evergreen fund of IAN Group, is a SEBI-registered Category I AIF and part of India's leading early-stage investment platform, which pioneered angel investing in the country. Today, IAN invests through its Angel Fund and venture capital funds, backed by a network of approximately 500 investors, including iconic entrepreneurs and industry leaders from India and overseas. The platform enables founders to raise capital from ₹50 lakh to ₹50 crore as they scale, while offering investors a diversified early-stage portfolio across both emerging and growth-stage startups.

About IAN Group

IAN Group is India's largest horizontal platform for early-stage investments, comprising the IAN Angel Fund, BioAngels, and a series of SEBI-registered venture capital funds, including the US$100 million IAN Alpha Fund. IAN supports entrepreneurs with capital, mentoring by experienced founders, and access to global markets. Forbes has recognised IAN as one of the most iconic business and economic developments of Independent India over the last 75 years, alongside institutions such as LIC, NASSCOM, the RBI, and Naukri.com.