PayPal on Wednesday announced the launch of its new technology innovation labs in Chennai and Bengaluru. The labs are first for PayPal in India and third after United States and Singapore, respectively, a company statement said.




"India is a hot bed for innovation, given the evolving startup ecosystem, diverse merchant profiles and enormous talent pool.. To cater to their needs in the most effective manner, we are delighted to announce the launch of our newest innovation lab in india.," PayPal, Director of Innovation, Mike Todasco said.




The company statement added that its labs in India would support diverse fields including machine learning, artificial intelligence, data science, penetration testing, among others. With a focus on productivity, innovation and education, the facilities would serve as spaces to build and refine new and advanced technologies and would create a forum for employees to engage, it added.




"With over one lakh 45 thousand registered patents between 2013-16 to its credit, India's innovation potential is enormous and will certainly break benchmarks with the right kind of encouragement. Enabling innovation and creating amazing experiences for our customers is at the heart of PayPal's global success and the Innovation Lab is another step to foster this spirit in our development centres in India," said Guru Bhat, GM Technology & Head of Engineering, PayPal.




The labs would also be integrated with the on-going initiatives including PayPal Incubator launched in 2013, with the objective of developing next generation financial technology startups, the statement added.